Comments on: A Tale of Two Stories

By: Breca Halley

Breca Halley — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 04:41:00 +0000

Holy crap. THAT’S what’s been bothering me so much about my own story. My character is a tourist. This is fantastic, because now that I have the problem all neatly laid out for me, I know what to do to fix it. You’re the best!

And my most/least fav Harry Potter books are the same as yours too. Cool.

By: Julie Leto

Julie Leto — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:26:00 +0000

Glad I could help. Voice of experience. I often think we don’t learn so much by writing as by REwriting. (So long as we don’t rewrite forever!)

By: Susan Adrian

Susan Adrian — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:09:00 +0000

Julie:

[Nowadays, I won't read a book where the heroine starts off young and naive and then goes through growth UNLESS the author shows me -- UP FRONT -- that she is capable and strong in at least one area of her life.]

AHA! That's an excellent point. I've been thinking I have to tackle the first 30 pages again anyway--so perhaps I'll see if I can do this better. {s}

By: Lis

Lis — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:57:00 +0000

I just wanted to say THANK YOU, you’ve given me a major AHA moment about the current wip

By: Julie Leto

Julie Leto — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:39:00 +0000

Susan, I hear you on the trouble with your book…I once started a book that way and frankly, I had to go back and rewrite the entire beginning so that she was smarter and more capable, even if she was still young and a little naive. I had to identify with her and to do that, I had to give her more power.

Nowadays, I won’t read a book where the heroine starts off young and naive and then goes through growth UNLESS the author shows me — UP FRONT — that she is capable and strong in at least one area of her life. If I don’t have that, she (the heroine) isn’t worth my time and I won’t read the book.

I know that I’m in a minority…if everyone thought that way, chick-lit would never have taken off. But it’s funny because I’ve always gravitated toward chick-lit with older heroines, probably for this very reason.

I didn’t read THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, but I saw the movie. Andy was naive and young, but she was also smart and strong and determined. If I read the book, I bet those qualities would have hooked me in.

By: Nadine Dajani

Nadine Dajani — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:30:00 +0000

Thanks for elucidating for me why I never ‘got’ Alice in Wonderland either. I also gobbled up Wizard of Oz… your analysis probably holds true for Anne of Green Gables and why she’s such an enduring YA favorite. What little girl *doesn’t* want to stand up to the class bully (who turns out to be quite yummy once properly put in his place by said heroine…)

By: Diana Peterfreund

Diana Peterfreund — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:19:00 +0000

No, we’re not playing that game here. i just wanted to discuss Current Issues in Diana’s Craft Journey, not play Trash the Writer. There’s enough of that on Amazon to satisfy anyone’s needs.

By: larramie

larramie — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:01:00 +0000

Oh please… Don’t we all want to know that book? LOL

By: Maureen McGowan

Maureen McGowan — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:40:00 +0000

Great post Diana. And I want to know what the book is… e-mail me

By: Annie

Annie — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:09:00 +0000

I think your post pretty much summed up why I didn't enjoy The Nanny Diaries. I'm quite envious of you; whenever I analyze why I liked a book or not, seldom can I put it into words that makes any sort of sense.

Thank you for not making Amy a tourist.

And to note, I have heard from more friends who have now read SSG and really enjoyed it! Thought you might like to know it keeps getting serious props from readers.