November 1, 2009:
Along with everyone in my super-duper critique group, the LitWits, I am rewriting my WIP, Dancing the Orange, this month.
My unrealistic goal is to rewrite the entire first half of the novel (82 pages at the moment) so I can continue with the (unwritten) second half in December. My realistic goal is to rewrite at least 2 pages a day.
Stay tuned for daily progress!
I have had this book on my to-read list for quite some time, ever since I heard an interview with the two authors on NPR. The book is written in dual POV, with one author tackling each POV in alternating chapters – very well done!
The title itself intrigued me as well, because of the playlist, and because of the pairing of the names – can it be coincidence that the authors used the same names of the ultra-chic and romantic couple of the 1930’s Thin Man movies? (played by Myrna Loy and William Powell)
As far as the plot and characters go, it couldn’t be more of an in-the-moment glimpse of two young adults on the verge of stepping off into their futures. Norah, who turns down an admission to Brown to elect to head to South Africa to chase down a stupid ex-boyfriend who instead shows up outside of her favorite club in NYC, where she has become the five-minute-girlfriend of Nick, who is pining away after a classmate of Norah’s who doesn’t care a lick about him or his wicked cool song lyrics that have been making Norah swoon (without knowing who he is) all year. Nifty sexual encounters include a run-in between the two girls in the bathroom at Velseka (borscht!) and a very close call next to the ice dispenser in a Marriott between Nick and Norah.
What will happen next? Without a sappy-happy ending, you know that these two have started something big, something which will continue to grow as they set out on their own lives. Very cool book.
Hands-down, the absolute best thing for me about the Rutgers Council on Children’s Literature one-on-one conference was the one-on-one itself. Of course, I was super-lucky, and got assigned to the best possible mentor ever: Jim Murphy. Read more about him here:
I know, couldn’t have gotten a better pick, what say?
But other than that, it was also great meeting such an amazing group of editors, agents, and authors, and running into ones I’ve met before. It was also wicked cool to meet all the Blue-Boarders (including my cool roommate Jean). Such a nice bunch of people, and such a dedicated bunch of writers.
Yeah, and one last thing that sticks in my mind. The words of the morning speaker Kay Winters (I am not quoting exactly, but from my shoddy memory): “I don’t know anyone in this business who really wanted to make it, kept at it, and didn’t make it.” So, keep at it, keep trying, get to work!
No, I’m not chickening out before it even begins!
But I do have an updated plan after attending the Rutgers Council on Children’s Literature One-on-One Conference this past Saturday. I’m taking it a step even farther removed.
Instead of finishing the second half of an unfinished novel I wanted to work on, I’m going to finish revising my non-fiction manuscript on the White Rose, which is, OK, let’s be honest, WAY cooler than a novel anyway (to history geeks at least).
My goal is to get everything in order before November, revising the first four chapters I already have, and then I’ll spend November writing the rest of the new Hans-chapters.
So it is totally like NANOWRIMO, but better.
PS Last night, I wound up with 415 words. Yaaay!
It’s National Novel Writing Month: http://www.nanowrimo.org/
I wonder if any other mom of twin toddlers has ever managed to write a novel in a month, hmm.
Being realistic, I don’t think I can either. Besides which, I have a half-finished novel I need to work on. So for me it’s going to be more like NaNoFiMo (National Novel Finishing Month), yaaaaay!
I’m shooting for 25,000 words (conveniently half of the goal for NaNoWriMo), which works out to 833.3 words/day. Let’s see how far I get!
Bartoletti is probably best-known for her award-winning work of non-fiction, Hitler Youth. With her novel The Boy Who Dared, Bartoletti shows off a great storytelling talent, as well as the meticulous research behind this story that brings it to life.
The Boy Who Dared is the true story of Helmuth Hübener, a German teen in World War II who stood up to the Nazis by distributing leaflets against the Nazi regime. He is one of the teens mentioned in Bartoletti’s Hitler Youth book.
So why a novel, and not another non-fiction book? What makes this story fiction is the lively dialog and very specific actions of the character that Bartoletti could only infer from research. Her informative author’s note describes what she did to dig for the details that help color the novel with a broad swath of reality.
The tension and intrigue transform The Boy Who Dared into a real-life spy novel, as the clock ticks up to Hübener’s final moments in prison before execution. Bartoletti gives us a real sense of how terrifying this must have been for him, placing us there in the cell with him, as the prison guards approach.
One of my favorite things about this tantalizing read is that the subtitle is “A Melodrama.” How cool is that?
The novel follows likeable heroine Maud (an orphan, what could be better?) as she is “rescued” from the orphanage by a trio of scam-artist-old-ladies (no joke), who take her down to their house by the shore, where she is kept captive up in the attic with contact only to the deaf-mute servant (again, no joke).
Maud is the epitome of plucky, and her story strings the reader along until the fairy-tale ending she deserves. And yes, there’s a reason that it’s a melodrama. 🙂
PS The author also wrote the Newberry-award-winning Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
After reading the buzz on Verla’s board, I had to read this book.
As the type of kid who read the author’s note first to find out the real story behind the story, I was thrilled to see a potential explanation for the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale (and yes, I read Bunce’s author’s note first, heh).
Charlotte is a strong and likeable heroine, who also infuriates the reader at times, which made her more realistic to me. I almost wondered if I was missing something when her relationship with Randall fizzled, but it fit perfectly with her character, so I bought it.
As a young mother, I was much more terrified by Charlotte’s situation than in the original fairy tale. I was completely drawn in by her emotion and by her predicament. What would the reader do in her place?
The only part that was too drawn-out for me was the side story with the uncle and his (and thus Charlotte’s) family history. It wasn’t dramatic enough for so much attention to me.
Overall, I love these modern retellings which offer us explanations – everything from Gregory Maguire’s books to the 2005 movie “The Brothers Grimm,” and Bunce’s CURSE takes its place right beside those as an excellent work of fiction.
Hey, it’s Philip Pullman. It’s about the North and Lee Scoresby, a friend of Lyra’s. Even Iorek the bear has a role in this slim volume. It’s action-packed and quite interesting. A good read overall.
Of course, I just want more stories about Lyra! How is she doing? Will Philip Pullman give us some more about her someday? Ooooh, I hope so!