Random Thoughts on Writing

I have struggled for a long time (literally years) to write fiction that I like. It is not the actual writing that's hard, it's liking what I write. I have won NaNoWriMo twice now, but I have never been happy with what I've written.

Today, as I sat down to try to plan out a new novel, I am deciding to take a new approach. In the past, I have always tried to write the type of book I like to read (scifi, dystoian, fantasy, general teen fiction) and it hasn't worked out too well. I'm realizing that maybe I need to take a note from John Steinbeck, who is one of my favorite authors of all time.

A long time ago, I remember reading that his first novels (which I have not yet read), were fantasy, King Arthur type stuff, because he had been told that was what was popular. Those books did terribly, and he realized he had to take a new approach. He decided to scrap everything he had been told and he wrote what he knew. He wrote about the people and places he loved the most, and his readers loved. Books like The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men made him famous.

I'm thinking that maybe I need to try the same thing. I've spent two, almost three, years trying to write about things I know very little about. When I think about it, the pieces of my own writing I feel the bast about are my opinion essays and articles about things that matter to me. My two best pieces of writing (in my opinion), are an essay about Great Expectations I wrote last year, and a responsive essay I wrote on Ben Johnson's "On Education and Style." Maybe, someday, I'll share those here.

Both of those are essays on things that I care about and believe in. Maybe I need to take the same approach with my fiction. With all this in mind, I have a new plan, which I am sharing here for accountability.

I am going to try to have a finished novel by the end of 2013 with it's basis in my own experiences. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do yet, but I am going to try to "write what I know." That doesn't mean that it'll be a memoir (I only have 15 years to write about, and it wouldn't be that interesting), but there are many themes in my life that I can pull from. I'm sure homeschooling, which is hugely important in my life, will be one of them. My family has gone through a very tumultuous last few years, and I am sure those experiences, and their effect on me, will be prominent in my story as well.

I am a planner at heart, and I hope to spend the next few months brainstorming for, and eventually outlining, my novel. Maybe it won't go anywhere, or maybe it'll be the best thing I've done so far. We'll have to wait and see. Whatever happens, I'll try to post here about it regularly. At least once a month, I will try to post about how this new project is going, even if it's going nowhere.

Banned Books: Part Seven

This is the final post in a series I published on my old blog in September 2012. I have been posting them here over the last month or so. Part one, two, three, four, five, and six.

Here are the top 91-100 most commonly challenged books from 2000-2009, according to the ALA. The bold ones I have read. My comments below the title. The links lead to their Amazon.com pages. In the case of a series, it either goes to a box set, or the first book in the series.



91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
A wonderful book. I enjoyed it a lot at the age of eleven. I can not, for the life of me, think of one single reason why this book would be banned.

92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
I have not read it, but I like Louis Sachar a lot.

93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard

94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
Ick. I have not read these, and have absolutely NO intention to.

95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
 I have not read this, but I probably should.

96. Grendel, by John Gardner

97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende

98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte

99. Are You There, God?  It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
A must read for every girl.

100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank
This book looks amazing. I will definitely read it. 

Well, that is it. All 100 of the most commonly challenged books of the last decade. You probably noticed that I mentioned that though I have not read many of the books, I hope to soon. As I read them, I will edit these posts with new descriptions. So, keep checking back often! Someday, I hope to have read at least 90 out of the 100.


I have read 21 of the 100 books on this list.What about you? Have you read any of the ones I have not? If you post a short (1-3 sentences) comment about any of the books here in the comments, I will edit it into the post. If possible, I want to get comments about every single book!

Banned Books: Part Six

This post is part of a series that I wrote for my old blog in September 2012. I have been posting them here over the last month or so. Part one, two, three, four, and five.

Here are the top 76-90 most commonly challenged books from 2000-2009, according to the ALA. The bold ones I have read. My comments below the title. The links lead to their Amazon.com pages. In the case of a series, it either goes to a box set, or the first book in the series.


76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving

77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
I might have to read this one...

78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
The title says it all. :)

79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss

80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
I have not read this book, but Robert Peck is very funny, so it is probably good.

81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright

82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill

83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
On my To-Read list.

84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins

85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
I am not a huge fan of Chris Crutcher, and I must say this book was really just okay. It was on a topic which very few books are about, which makes it unique.


86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
This is the only Patricia McCormick book I haven't read, but I really should. It sounds good.

87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
Yet another Judy Blume book on the list. This is a good one, though it has been years since I read it.

88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Sounds really goo, though I have not read it.

89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
The inspiration for the TV show.

90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
An amazing book. I have read it at least 10 times since the age of eight. I can honestly say that with out this book, I would probably have never started reading Science Fiction.
 


I have read 19/90 of the books so far. What about you? Have you read any of the ones I have not? If you post a short (1-3 sentaces) comment about he book in the comments I will edit it into the post. If possible, I want comments about every single book!

Homeschool Fridays: Susan Wise Bauer

Before I go into any of our school subjects in any great detail, I feel that I must first describe our general philosophy about school. For the most part, it revolves around a woman named Susan Wise Bauer and her book, The Well Trained Mind. We use the classical approach she suggests. Describing the classical method here would take up at least one whole blog post. So, I will only talk about the most important parts. I highly recommend you read this article Susan Wise Bauer wrote about the classical method. It is long, but thorough.

After you have read that, you will have a much better idea about how we do things. Basically, we follow the four year cycle she suggests. I will describe the different subjects in more detail in the coming weeks, but here is a quick overview.

Since I only went to school for Kindergarten and 1st grade, most of my ideas about school are based off our homeschooling. One of those ideas is the priority that school subjects take. In our house, there has always been a hierarchy of subjects. At the top is History. History is by far the most important subject. Number two is Science. These are the two subjects that we do/did in the evening after Mom got home from work. Every other subject was done during the day.

After those two, English and Latin are the next most important. Math is just below those, and everything else is after that. I think that mentality is one that I would never have picked up if not for The Well Trained Mind.

Really, we have followed Susan Wise Bower's suggestions for pretty much everything. Mom is rather devoted to her, and loves all her books. There is not much more that I can say on this topic. Really, just read that article I linked to up at the top. It will all make sense then.

Divergent - Veronica Roth

I recently just read Divergent for the second time. I absolutely love this book (and its sequel, which I will review very soon), and I am excited to talk about it.

I don't really want to go with my normal book review pattern, but I will briefly go over my main topics, and then talk more about some other things. The characters are good, especially the main character. They are less fleshed out the farther you go out from the core, but that is expected. There are a lot of characters, so I can understand that, especially considering none of them are bad at all.

The writing is good, but not totally amazing. It is by no means bad, and I enjoyed it, but it's also not the best writing ever.

Now, this is where I am going to go off my usual plan. The plot is terrific. It is what I really love about this book. I loved it from the very beginning, and continued to through out, which does not always happen. Often, I will like the original premise, but then I don't like where it leads. With Divergent, that never happened. Everything that happened made sense, even if I did not expect it. Nothing came totally out of the blue, but many things surprised me.

I have very few complaints about this book, but here they are:

1. It's in the present tense the entire time. I don't know about you, but this is not a trend that I like. I remember the Hunger Games was one of the first books I ever read that was written this way, and it was extremely distracting. I don't notice is so much now, but I still find it annoying.

2. Characters changing names. Not to be too spoilery, but at one point, a character is revealed to be someone else, and from that point on, he is called by his real name. Now, I have no particular complaints about this other then that the transition seemed a bit awkward.


While I was Googleing this book to get to the Amazon page to link here, I learned some news that I am not so excited about. They are currently filming the movie. Yeah. I know I am supposed to be more excited, but when ever they make a movie of a book I absolutely love, I have a hard time being excited (except for The Great Gatsby, I am incredibly excited for that one). I plan on doing a whole post about why that is in the next week or two

So there you go. Divergent. I will review Insurgent very soon. Also look for my post about the transition from book to movie.

Ghosts of Ashbury High - Jaclyn Moriarty

Today I am reviewing The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty. You may remember that I reviewed another of her books, The Year of Secret Assignments, a few months ago (if you want to read that review, click on the title). Actually, I have a lot of the same comments with this book. Because of that, this review might not be that long.

First, let's talk about characters. This is where Jaclyn Moriarty really excels in my opinion. Her characters are nicely fleshed out, and feel very real. This is particularly challenging because in her books, the different characters "write" different parts of the story (through letters, emails, diary entries, blog posts, school assignments, ect.). Each of her characters has a distinct writing style, which really impresses me. What I usually dislike about these types of books is their lack of distinction between different "writers" (characters).

The plot was fun, but nothing amazing. It was enjoyable, but nothing profound. It is a lighthearted story about a bunch of kids. I have nothing more to say on this topic.

For the writing, it firmly in the "middle." It was well done, but not overly well done. She made some creative choices which I enjoyed, but I also think that the writing and plot complemented each other very nicely. Neither one ever really took control of the book. This made it a quick, easy read.

I enjoyed this book, and if you like this kind of book, and the synopsis sounds interesting, I recommend checking it out. 

The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

 
Just a warning - This post will contain a few spoilers. I will try to be careful about giving too much away, but if you have not read the book and really don't want to know anything about what happens, you might want to skip this post. The ending is not given away, and neither are any major plot points.

Today's post is about The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, which was the book that our high school American Lit discussion group read last month. This post might be a little different then most of the ones I have read lately, mostly because I think that which such a great book like this one, analyzing the individual parts of the book does not make a lot of sense.

So, here is a brief review of the three things I usually talk about: characters, plot, and writing. The characters are amazing. They are believable, human, and relate-able. The plot was what it was. I think you simply can't judge the plot of a Steinbeck book. For the writing, let's just say that I think Steinbeck is one of the best writers ever. His East of Eden may be my all time favorite book. Enough said on those topics.

The Grapes of Wrath is unique in that it was written in 1939, in the middle of the Great Depression. During our discussion, somebody suggested that perhaps the ending, which is pretty open ended, is a reflection of that. He could not say what had happened to the Joads, because it hadn't happened yet.

One of the things about this kind of historical fiction is that I, the reader, really can't argue with the author. With a lot of books, if I didn't like something that happened, it is because it is not believable, or it doesn't make sense in the flow of events. With this book, there were parts of the story I did not like, or where I wished something had happened differently. But this time, it's not Steinbeck's fault. Maybe what I sometimes disliked was how real it felt. I couldn't argue with what happened to Tom or Casey because it felt like what would have really happened.

This book is full of symbols (though not as many as The Great Gatsby) in its in between "commentary" chapters. The one that stuck out most to me was the turtle near the beginning of the book. That turtle was going to get to where it wanted to go, and it didn't care how long it took. Getting turned over on an embankment was a dissapointment, and it slowed him down by several hours, but all it was was a delay. Even getting picked up by Tom was not the end of the road for him. Eventually, he got away, and kept plodding along. To me, that was the Joad family in a nutshell. Whatever happened, whoever died, they were going to keep plodding along.

That's my review of the Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck.