Photo courtesy of goodreads

Even though there are a lot of people out there that will say that Nicholas Sparks just recycles his stories, I personally find them all touching and think he's a master at writing the kind of story he writes, even if I don't always agree with the actions of his characters (ex. Dear John).  And what's more, he became a bestselling author with his first publication, The Notebook.  Now there's something I know all of you writers out there dream of every night.

Fortunately for us, Nicholas Sparks (and his website with the fancy new look) has provided us with something very valuable for free: advice for writers on how to be successful.  I must say that I absolutely ate it up and felt inspired afterward, especially since I've let my writing fall into a serious slump.  He not only says things to give me hope but says things that make me want to be even better than I am (a lot better than I am, really).

Before getting into all the technical parts about agents, publishers, query letters, editing, and everything else there is to the business of writing, Sparks offers some truly sound advice about where to begin:

Research
Sparks suggests that aspiring authors should read as much as they can about writing.  Some of the books he suggests are On Writing by Stephen King, The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White, Creating Fiction edited by Julie Checkoway, and A Dangerous Profession by Frederick Busch.  "I also like Screenplay by Sid Field, which isn’t about novel writing, but has a lot of useful information."  I've made all of these books available in the Notes From Carcosa Online store, as well as the 2013 editions of Writer's Market and Poet's Market.

Read
Reading is very important for writers so that they may have a sound frame of reference for shaping their own novel.  Nicholas Sparks states the he reads over 100 books a year and has done so since he was 15.  Not only has all of this reading taught him which authors are the best and to be admired, it has taught him which are not so good and where they made their mistakes.

"Next, focus in on the genre you want to write, and read books in that genre. A LOT of books by a variety of authors. And read with questions in your mind."  What he means by this is asking yourself about the various aspects of the book, from "How many chapters?" to "Was the suspense scene mostly narrative or mostly dialogue?", and then asking yourself if those things worked for or against the author.  Really delve into the book, then read another book in the same genre and ask those questions again.

"Little by little, you’ll learn the process."

Write
" The final step is to write. You can’t be a writer if you don’t write, it’s just that simple."  He says that by finishing two novels before The Notebook, he learned not only that he liked to write but that he could finish a novel.

Sparks writes "five or six days a week, usually a minimum of 2000 words, sometimes more."  When he's finished with whatever he's working on, he moves straight on to something else.  He says that writing 2000 words a day takes anywhere from three to eight hours, and he's always striving to improve.


I'll admit that I'm very guilty of not doing many of these things lately, even though I know they're the right thing to do.  I hardly ever read books on writing anymore, I'm currently reading fewer than 20 or 30 books a year, and I haven't written anything substantial in a long, LONG time.  However, I want so much to change this, and hopefully this blog will be a great first step in the right direction!
 
If you'd like to read more of Sparks' advice, please visit the Advice for Writers section of his website, found here.   Let me know what you think about it, and you're welcome to share any of your own advice in the comments!

Image courtesy of the European Pressphoto Agency

That's right, people, J.K. Rowling's first "adult" novel has been picked up by the BBC to be turned into a miniseries to be aired in 2014.

When The Casual Vacancy was announced earlier this year, it was clear to Harry Potter fans and Muggles what Rowling was attempting to do: break away from the cult phenomenon and be "taken seriously" by the rest of the literary world.  But the realm of science fiction and fantasy is fraught with such attempts, and like so many others who have tried before (Leonard Nimoy springs to mind) would tell her, it's an extremely difficult undertaking.

When the book was actually released during late September, reception was as is to be expected.  No one could remove themselves from the Potter-verse far enough to read it frankly, and many people were disturbed by her shift from imaginative fantasy to harsh, sometimes disgusting realism.  The book was trampled by comparisons to Harry Potter and relegated to the parallel universe where overshadowed books are doomed to dwell forever alongside George Orwell's Down And Out In Paris And London and Joseph Heller's Something Happened.

However, despite the fact that The Casual Vacancy was met with skepticism and was manhandled by critics, the novel has still become a bestseller (probably due to interest from curious Harry Potter fans), and the BBC seems to think that its gritty drama will fit nicely alongside its other programs.  Rowling herself also said, "I always felt, if it were adapted, this novel was best suited to television, and I think the BBC is the perfect home." 

Rowling plans to work closely with the BBC and with her agent, Neil Blair, who is producing the series through his own independent production company.

Also, I fully intend to read this book ASAP, so anyone who would like to follow along with me, you can purchase the book here.  Happy reading!

Unveiling of Wilde's newly renovated tomb

On November 30th, Oscar Wilde's renovated tomb was unveiled by his grandson, Merlin Holland, and British actor Rupert Everett. All graffiti has been scrubbed away, and there is a new glass barrier to shield this iconic author's tomb from kisses.  Yes, kisses.

Why does Wilde need to protected from the kisses of his adoring fans?  According to the Vancouver Sun, even his grandson admitted that Wilde "would have loved the attention."

Well, it seems that the kisses are eating away at the tomb, a statue of an Assyrian-style flying angel designed by modernist sculptor Jacob Epstein.  While it remained relatively safe and unscathed for many, many years (aside from the hacking off of the angel's giant wing-wang), tourists began writing notes on the tomb in 1985.  His grandson fought to and succeeded at having the tomb declared a historic monument, hoping that the fines of thousands of euros that come from defacing it would deter vandals.

However, in 1999, one inspired person decided to plant a big, red, lipsticked kiss on the tomb.  This sparked a new tradition, with people from all over the world coming to kiss the author's tomb and wish him their love.

While this might sound romantic, the kisses were actually damaging the tomb.  Where each person kissed the tomb, the oils and grease from the lipstick sank into the stone and began to wear down the tomb.  That means that long after the kisses may have been washed away, the oils remained, slowly destroying Wilde's monument.

Therefore, after the latest expensive renovation to the tomb, which was funded by Irish Cultural Centre, a glass shield was placed around the monument in hopes of deterring would-be smoochers.

"Inevitably people will try to climb over the glass, but glass is fragile and people will perceive it as such.  Maybe one day we can take it down when the memory of kissing Oscar is gone," said Holland.

Everett, who came out as gay in the 1980s and starred in the 2002 film version of "The Importance of Being Earnest", described the dandy Irishman as his "patron saint" and "one of the last great vagabonds" of the 19th century.

Oscar Wilde

"I find him very inspiring and touching, not just for his genius, also for his stupidity, in a way. He was a human being, and made mistakes like everyone else," Everett said.

He related Wilde's trial and how he was caught out trying to explain his attitude to the lips of boys and men before being convicted of homosexuality in 1895 and sentenced to two years prison with hard labor.

"Kisses for Oscar Wilde were not just signs of love, he associated them with danger, even death," said Everett, who has written a screenplay about Wilde's final years with which he hopes to make a directorial debut next year.

"He has the perfect blend of brilliance and silliness, of pride and humility ... from the dress circle to the drains, his life was his greatest work of art and an inspiration to anyone who's ever felt outcast."

Jane Austen

So I came across a really interesting article the other day on the Discovery News website; apparently, there's a group of people who believe that Jane Austen didn't die naturally but was POISONED.  DUN DUN DUUUNN.

According to the article, doctors and historians have speculated for years what the mysterious illness that killed the author at the age of 41 might be, but no one has ever been able to match up a symptom described in one of her letters to any suggested disease.  In her letter, she said, "I am considerably better now and recovering my looks a little, which have been bad enough, black and white and every wrong colour."

Mystery writer Lindsay Ashford suggests that this strange discoloration of her skin is a symptom of arsenic poisoning (although I'm not entirely sure I trust the credentials of a random mystery writer).  She wrote in a tidbit in the Daily Mail, a U.K. newspaper/news website, that arsenic "...causes skin spotting if taken in small doses over a long time... Known as the 'raindrop' effect, it causes some patches of skin to go dark brown or black; other areas lose all pigment to go white."

But speculation proves nothing; what's intriguing is that a friend of a couple who once owned a locke of Jane Austen's hair and later donated it to a museum told Ashford that the hair had been tested for arsenic, and it had tested positive.  Keep in mind that this is hearsay twice removed from the source, but still intriguing. 

While the chances are small that someone deliberately poisoned Austen, Ashford speculates that she may have been given medicine containing arsenic to treat a non-fatal illness, which may have ultimately hastened or caused her death.  Austen mentioned rheumatism in her letters, which is a disease for which medicine containing arsenic was prescribed.  "[Arsenic] was present in all manner of goods, from candles and wallpaper to dress fabric and sweets.  There was a jar in most households: used as rat poison, you could buy it loose at any grocer's shop with no questions asked.  A tasteless, odourless white powder, it was often mistaken for flour or baking powder with fatal results."

Ashford is taking the idea of Austen's deliberate poisoning with arsenic and running with it, writing a new novel called The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen.

I always love it when a new Stephen King movie or TV series comes out, and I'm especially excited for this one.  While Bag of Bones is one of his books that I have yet to read, the previews I've seen for the 2-part miniseries a la It are really promising.  Pierce Brosnan is making a television comeback with a cast that includes a few others you might recognize from the most recent Dreamgirls movie and the hit TV shows True Blood and Beverly Hills, 90210.  The first part of the 4-hour movie will be airing on A&E on December 11th at 9 pm Eastern, 8 Central, and you know I'm going to be glued to the TV that night!  I also hope to squeeze in reading the book beforehand, so wish me luck!

Below, I've got a little behind the scenes preview for Bag of Bones, as well as a link to the creepy-as-Hell website right here.  Enjoy, everyone!

A little under a week ago, the great Stephen King released his latest work, 11/22/63, a time-travel novel dealing with the delicate subject of the Kennedy assassination.  Resurrecting the seemingly quiet town of Derry, Maine, setting of It, Insomnia, and the short story "The Bird and the Album," he introduces us to Jake Eppling, a man who teaches GED classes at night and just so happens to learn that there's a portal to 1958 in the local diner.  Enlisted by the diner's owner to help stop the Kennedy assassination, Jake travels back and establishes a life for himself as George Amberson in hopes of stopping Oswald's plan.

The excerpts on the book's official (and very interactive) site show a book that appears to be Stephen King in top form, although this is his first venture into the realm of historical novel writing.  The previews don't offer a glimpse into the portions of the book dealing with Oswald himself or give any hints about how it might actually turn out in the end, but it is just enough to get fans excited!

While time travel isn't overtly the subject of the book, merely a device for the doings of the protagonist in the past and the lessons taught about life and love, a review in the New York Times calls it "one of the best time-travel stories since H.G. Wells."  I'm inclined to believe this before having the chance to read it myself simply because its Stephen King.  While there are moments in some of his books, very rare ones, where I felt something may have been missing or been too much altogether, I could certainly say even without having read 100% of his books that the greater portion of his work is outstanding.  He is a master of his craft, weaving a world of life, death, and the bizarre in a way that continually pulls us back for more, despite any very minor transgressions.  He has never betrayed his readers, and there's no way he would let us down now.

I'm looking forward to reading this book for myself and to offering a review to my readers!  I must admit that I haven't been keeping up with Stephen King's very latest work, but this one seems much more can't-miss than some others.  Perhaps this is because I've been reading a lot more literature that hinges on eras of great change, and I'm excited to read more!  If you'd like to pick up your own copy and read it for yourself, you can do so here.

For all of you out there lamenting at the thought of never reading another new Crichton masterpiece, his second posthumous book, Micro, completed by contemporary Richard Preston, is being released on November 22 and is already available for pre-sale.  To celebrate the release of this book, the Michael Crichton facebook fanpage has announced a photo contest presented by Harper Books called Micro Yourself!

The photo I entered in the contest; vote for me!

The rules are simple: Submit a photo of yourself on a micro scale using the Micro facebook app.  This could mean you next to something huge, a photoshopped picture of you doing battle with a bug, or a trick photograph that makes it look like you're lifting the pyramids; get creative!  Then vote for your favorites (you can't vote for yourself), and the top 50 photos will be entered for a chance to win one of the 27 awesome prizes.

What are the prizes, you might ask?  Third prize, which will go to 20 participants, is a limited edition Micro t-shirt and copy of the book.  Second prize, which will go to the next 5 top participants, is the t-shirt, a copy of Micro, and a mass
market paperback edition of each of 10 Crichton classics.  First prize, which goes to the second most popular single photo, is the e-reader of your choice with a $100 gift card to the corresponding retailer, the t-shirt, and a hardback copy of Micro.  And finally... the GRAND PRIZE for the single photo with the most votes is limited edition leather-bound copies of Jurassic Park and The Lost World, the e-reader of your choice with a $100 gift card to the corresponding retailer, the t-shirt, and a hardback copy of Micro!

The Grand Prize!

What else can you do on this neat little contest page?  Well, you can read all about the authors, as well as read the entire prologue to Micro!  From what I've read, it looks like it's going to be another instant Crichton classic.  I really can't wait to read more and see if I can spot the influence of Richard Preston on the ending.

So is everyone excited for the release?  Tell me what you think of the excerpt!  Tell me if you think Crichton is back as a zombie!  I'd love to hear from you!