Writing the novel Vivian Rising required a great deal of research and personal introspection about astrology. I’ve gone on the record saying I’ve got a love-hate relationship with astrology. Too true. I’m equally skeptical and seduced by astrology’s spot-on insights. I’m not even going to say anything about what I think of Capricorns. But, oy. I used to read my horoscope in The New York Post every day. During trying times in my life, I found myself hungering for the beginning of a new month so I could hang onto some promising things to come. Looking back, I guess it could have been anything I looked at this way. I just wanted to feel better, and sometimes you go through periods where you do all the right things—keep your chin up, hit the gym, busy yourself with friends and work, wake up and say “good morning world,” fake it till you make it—and still everything comes up crap. I don’t know why life tests us this way. Astrology addresses these difficult phases, too, breaks them down to something that seems like a natural, slightly more digestible, part of life, and maybe there’s something therapeutic in thinking about it in this way.
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THIS FASHION WEEK, BOOK PEOPLE ARE THE NEW BLACK
Caravan Spring 2011 Runway Show
Daniella Brodsky and Caravan teamed up to make book people the new black. As a stylish read, guests to the official Style 360 Spring 2011 Starbucks-sponsored EXPRESS YOUR LOVE show featuring Caravan, Boy Meets Girl, and bobi, at New York’s Mercedez Benz Fashion Week on September 14th, received a copy of Daniella’s new novel release Vivian Rising. The idea was inspired by Daniella’s first fashion week experience, which led her to write the successful series, The Girl’s Guide to New York Nightlife: “The energy I felt at that first catwalk show—the music, the models, the makeup, the clothes, the set—was palpable. I left knowing I had to do something creative, something great. By the time I got to my subway stop, I had the idea for The Girl’s Guide. The effect was that powerful,” says Daniella. Two great worlds, better together. The New York Fashion Awards named Caravan Best Boutique in 2008.
Which Stories Make You Cry?
Thursday was such a spectacular day that I have to share it with you. I took the drive to Sydney to meet the staff at Simon & Schuster Australia, who are publishing Vivian Rising here in my new home this February. It’s my first launch here and I feel like a virgin at this business. So far it’s a dream. You will just die when you see their cover. It’s gorgeous, just like the people there that I have the amazing luck to work with…they even gave me one of those divine pigeons for the cover. How did they know how much I love that pigeon? And what kind of a sign was this divine rainbow (pictured) that formed in my path as I left their office?
How Do You Write a Page-Turner?
Sure, you can find plenty of plug-in rules about how to create suspense when things are turning flat. And I’m a big fan of life-rafts when you’re drifting out into murky water with no end in sight. When things go flat, kill off a character; start a fight; complicate the plot with a new twist. Use short sentences. Up the action at the end of chapters. Insert a “ticking time-bomb”—a deadline we’re working with to get the heart racing. These can be helpful devices, but rather than think of them as “rules,” you should really consider them your last resort. The thing is, it’s impossible to say which element of fiction is the most important—and that’s because they all work together to make the story tick along. Researching my new novel, I’ve learned botanists argue this “what’s most important” debate over water, air, soil, and sun. But what’s the point? You need them all, and the more you write, the more interconnected each element becomes—characterization, dialogue, conflict, word choice, and pacing strengthen each other when you really get the hang of it. And once you do, the next plot point presents itself naturally; it doesn’t need to be arbitrarily plucked from the storyteller’s salad bar. You can feel the difference when you’re writing, and your reader will become all the more absorbed into the illusion for your efforts.
Social Media Networking for Novelists
Confused, ambivalent, overwhelmed when it comes to utilizing social media in today’s book market? Well, if my recent launch has taught me anything, it’s that you simply cannot be a commercial author today without participating. In fact, the social media effort is such a big part of my current launch for VIVIAN RISING I figured all of us authors could use a little crash course in what we should be doing and how to do it. I hope it helps…and saves you a lot of time trying to cobble together a media strategy in the dark! If you want to add to the conversation, or share your tricks of the trade, we’re all ears!
Reading outside your genre
You might write mainstream fiction, or historical fiction. As anyone would, you read your genre inside and out. You know the big players, the up-and-comers, the should-be-big-players. You know who’s overrated and who’s getting lazy. Keep on it, Hemingway in training.
But, the reading doesn’t stop there. Priceless lessons are to be learned reading outside your genre. I use the thriller genre for my writing courses because it’s one of the tightest fiction forms around. You’ve got to get right into the action; your reader is looking for clues in every scene, so every bit’s got to count. Why is the car old? They will wonder. Why does she say adios instead of goodbye? What’s that girl up to? They will ask. Characterization, these quirks and desires, fears and history—without information dump—drive the plot. And the pacing…well, the pacing is the fastest around. They call it the ticking time bomb. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Characters allow people to live through them
I never thought it would happen, but alas, I’m joining the zillions who’ve covered the SATC 2 film; I think with it being such a gigantic, successful phenomenon in both art and culture, as an artist, it would be remiss to ignore it. Plus…who doesn’t enjoy a night in with those clever, outrageous reruns! I went with a girlfriend to see it, and I had a blast. This blast had little to do with the plot or the writing, and most disappointingly, little to do with the clothes or beauty, or even relationship insights, but instead with the experience of a night out with not just my friend, but the SATC girls, who—love them or hate them—have become a familiar touchstone of comfort over the years. Oh Samantha! You wouldn’t. Oh, but you would, and that is precisely why we love to watch!
The role of place in fiction
Lately I’ve been
pondering the importance and influence of place in fiction. When I first started out, I was living in New York City, a struggling journalist from unglamorous roots, making her way in the most glamorous scene in the world—making mistakes like drinking out of a brandy snifter and having no clue how to use a fish knife. Naturally, my fiction was inspired by this world. In my fiction, I’d tried to revisit the landscape of my childhood back then, but I hadn’t been ready to do so properly, and the draft I’d worked up felt forced and phony. I’d shelved even the topic—which, in essence a coming of age story, was certainly universal—for nearly six years before I revisited not so much the topic, but as I was to learn later, the important bit: the condensed feeling of the experience, in an abbreviated sense, in THE VELVET ROPE DIARIES. It was much easier to explore this landscape—both physically and emotionally—because I’d distanced myself from it, and this made all the difference. So, you see—distance from a place is one way you can impact your use of it.
Inspiration can come from the most unexpected sources
When I had
fewer years of fiction writing under my belt, I first recognized my attraction to old books. I can pinpoint the exact scene: it was my first visit to the Russell Library, in Middletown, Connecticut, USA, where I had recently relocated. This small town gem seemed a new universe to discover, having lived on Planet Manhattan for so long. And immediately I fell in love with this library, with its stained glass windows and creaky stacks, pretty courtyard and high, church-like ceilings (and I’d soon find out, the world’s best program director, Suzanne Eliot). I even loved the 70s era throwbacks like the neon teen reading area sign, and the video tape rentals.
Sydney Writer’s Festival
I dropped my puppy off with her “grandma” and drove three hours to Sydney to see what the whole world is talking about when they say Sydney Writers’ Festival. I’m a reticent joiner, but I’ve had such a positive experience with RWA that I now have a more open mind to the group dynamic. In fact, I seek out groups wherever I can. Now I steel myself against my tendency to shyness and say, “Hi, I’m Daniella Brodsky, I’m also a novelist,” as much as I can at readings and launches. It’s painful but I’m always glad I mustered up the courage to do it. When it comes to an industry as crazy as the book biz, you certainly can’t have enough friends to bounce things off of and keep you sane. Plus, maybe I’m biased, but I always think writers are great fun. So I was excited to get a foothold in the Australian literary community. I could not have come away more deeply satisfied.
Simon & Schuster put on a fantastic party for its authors (that’s me!), right on the wharf, where the champagne was flowing and there was no shortage of wonderful people to meet. On the top of my list of Australian authors is now the fantastic Charlotte Smith, whose non-fiction tome, DREAMING OF DIOR, is a wonderful, emotional history of the jaw-dropping designer vintage wardrobe she’s inherited from her Godmother—3,000 pieces! The wardrobe, she told me, has been both a blessing and a curse. There are so many garments, shoes, and accessories in her care, that she keeps them in a hangar if I remember correctly, and I cannot stop my mind thinking like a novelist about what it must be like to have such a wonderful, cumbersome rock to drag around. Perhaps she’ll do an interview with me one day so we’ll all have some inspirational fodder from her extraordinary circumstances…In the meanwhile, check out her own blog, and buy the book…it’s gorgeous, and wonderfully satisfying. She’s got another coming out shortly.
DAY 2 started with a wicked hangover, despite the preventative Panadol, water, and early bedtime. I just can’t do more than two glasses anymore. I should remember that when charming waiters offer to pour free champagne in my glass, but somehow I always hold my glass up and nod yes.
I went to my favorite Sydney breakfast spot, a little French café called Café Crème (I think), by The Cross. Some baguette and a bowl of latté later and I was good as new. My first stop was a reading by four Australian authors: Anna Goldsworthy, Alison Booth, Melina Marchetta, and Charlotte Wood. It was wonderful. As my friend Dori said in Connecticut when she came to my reading at the wonderful Russell Library in Middletown, CT, her first, “It reminds me of being a child and getting read to! I almost fell asleep!” She meant it as a compliment. I felt the same at this, my first Australian reading, and picked up the book THE PIPER’S SON, by Melina Marchetta, since the portion she read was fantastic. I can’t wait to read it. During this panel’s Q&A session, the topic of reading out of order came up, and I was fascinated by how many people read the endings first. I couldn’t bear it! I love suspending reality; I try not to guess what’s going to happen, but coast along the pages soaking up the beauty of the sentences, the exceptional uses of language or plotting, relishing in the wonderfully imagined bits, but blindly, so as not to ruin the full impact of satisfaction at the ending. Do any of you skip to the end? Why or why not?
After that I attended an informative session about the future of ebooks, at which, an embarrassing show of hands made it blatantly obvious I’m one of the only people left in the world who can’t imagine reading a novel electronically. I am so thrilled about the opportunities ebooks bring to people who can’t easily get their hands on books, and about the cool innovations yet to come, and of course, the new audiences around the world for novelists in all corners of the globe—after all, if you knew how few books make it into the international licensing realm because of the way things are done in this industry, you’d make it your business to research what’s available overseas: you’re missing some great stuff! Still, I’m afraid in my personal reading world there’s nothing better than a gold old fashioned, words-on-paper book. In fact, one of my main inspiration sources is the collection of vintage non-fiction books I pick up at the Salvos, not to mention the billions of volumes at my fingertips at the Australian National Library. However, I do assume that soon enough, some slick feature of ebooks will blow my mind and I, too, will be an addict—though I’ll never replace my old fashioned books for good, merely complement them with this new format.
The panel included publishers Sara Lloyd, Michael Moynahan (a genuinely funny guy), Margie Seale, and Louise Adler speaking with journo Rosemary Sorensen. I was interested to hear that the publishers all agreed that their projections for ebook sales for the near future don’t exceed one percent of total book sales. They spoke of digital books as part of a wholistic approach to publishing, and I find that an exciting prospect, including added value offerings like authors’ correspondence, notes, and even selling individual poems. Who knows what the future will bring? I’d love to hear about your own ebook adventures, opinions, predictions, likes, and dislikes.
