The Next Big Thing

So I've been tagged to do this blog hopping thing by a new writing pal, Katie. I'm somewhat qualified to participate as I am a writer and I do have a few stories in my head that would be fun to talk about with people other than myself. There are two Works in Progress (WIP) that are battling for my attention.

1. What is the working title of your book?
- Thanks to my witty husband, I'm calling it Premarital Existence.
- Blaming Jane

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
- The first one came to me as a junior in high school. I think I was looking for YA literature and wasn't really finding it.
- Blaming Jane came from my sister when we discovered that Jane Austen is a distant cousin related to us through marriage. (Pretty cool huh?)

3. What genre does your book fall under?
- Probably YA but could fall possibly under the NA tent.
- Memoir probably but I think it might better fit as a play.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
- This is a toughie...I would want some young-ish characters since they are in their first or third years of college. This guy could do. Maybe slightly longer hair. Don't ask me who is, this is what Google, cooked up for me.

I've been told, you write what you know, and I know blond hair, blue-eyed girls very well. I think Julianne Hough could play my heroine in a movie. After all, she is starting to appear more and more on the silver screen. I think this picture really captures the down-to-earth girl I've imagined and I think these two could make a cute and believable couple.

As for the other MS (manuscript) I cannot picture anyone else playing me but me. Ha!


5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
- It's hard to find yourself while you're trying to find Mr. Right.
- A modern-day "Little Women" family with all of the problems of Jane Austen characters.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
- I don't think I would ever self-publish. I hear it's difficult and writing a book has been a challenge enough.
- I think this book/memoir would be really interesting to an agency, since there are genealogical ties.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
- Since it's first inception in 2001, I think I'm still working on my first draft. I have a difficult time finishing anything, probably because I don't always see the ending.
- Right now it's a just an idea with a few thoughts jotted down.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
- What the Doctor Ordered by Janette Rallison
- I haven't read it yet but Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo sounds like it could be very similar.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
- I think the number of books appropriate for me at age seventeen were few and far between so I decided to write one that I figured other seventeen year olds would want to read.
- My sister inspired me to write Blaming Jane because of our genealogical connection and the fact that when upon inspection our lives do resemble those of her characters.

10. What else about your book might pique your readers' interest?
- There's possibility for a sequel
- It's kind of a tell-all about living under the shadow of wealth.



Check out some other writers my friend Katie also tagged to post today...

Darci Cole
Ryan Dalton
Trisha Schmidt

Okay this is so not fair, all of these writers have author-y sounding names already. Probably because they already are.


Happy reading!

~ Lady Jane

Unfinished

I've realized something about myself as a writer: I never finish a project I start. There's always something impeding me from the task, whether it's life or another writing project that appears to be more promising. With that being said, I think I've finally found a writing project that holds some promise for accomplishment. It's a new direction for me (writing in the first person) it will somewhat resemble my own life (a teacher) and the highs and lows of creating relationships out of thin air whilst finding a soulmate.

I can't admit that I came up with this project all on my own. Like Oscar Hammerstein I have to give credit where credit is due; I've been watching old episodes of Parenthood on Netflix and a character uttered a phrase that I thought would be perfect for a book title (did ya really think I was going to give that away? Especially if I want to use it as a title).

Thanks television for giving me yet again another epiphany!

~Lady Jane

Lofty Ambitions

So I'm thinking about writing a play about how my grandpa and grandma met back in the 40s. I've never written a play before. Ever. Sure I've performed in a few plays but writing one seems a lot more arduous and daunting than learning just my own lines and few of the other characters'. The research is going to be difficult because they've both passed on and my own mom doesn't know as many specifics I would need to really flesh out their story.

But I have a wonderful opportunity to display my work. The performing arts group that I'm working for is working on opening their very own theater. I'm nervous, I'm thrilled, I'm a jumble of conflicting emotions. What's better than on opening night knowing whether or not you have the chops to be a writer? Already, you have an assorted group of people, different ages, races, religions all coming to view your work. I wouldn't do this good of a job if I hired the test subjects myself.

I've tried to get my writing out to friends for research sake and I've concluded that unless one of my friends is an editor with an unlimited amount of time to devote to reading, I will never really know what my friends think of my writing.


Lady Jane

Unlikely

Inspiration hit me last night around 11 pm. Completely unheard of in my universe. I'm more of a thinker, doer in the morning hours, so what do you think I did? That's right, I did not go straight to the computer and write it down, nor did I pull out my smart phone to type in the thought either as it sat right there on a pile of books on my nightstand, literally less than a foot from me. I assumed that if it was important enough or clever enough that I would remember to pull it out of my subconscious in the morning. WRONG! I read somewhere (probably from Goldberg) to immediately write down a thought that comes to you. I suppose that's why she said she always carried a notebook with her every where she went.

For an avid writer, such as myself you would think that sudden inspiration would be more important than sleep. An author friend told me that the only uninterrupted time she got to write was after all the kids and even her husband were in bed.

Perhaps, one day I will actually finish the book I started my junior year of high school. If I deem sleep more important than writing, then finishing is highly unlikely.

~Lady Jane

Adaptations

I figured that since the boy is occupied with toys and his beloved cartoon characters I would take a minute and express my excitement for a movie that has long been striving to appear on the silver screen: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. My husband loved the book as a kid, he says it has something to do with validation of being a genius kid. *Cough* Anyway, I read the book a few summers ago and really enjoyed it.

As far as I know, Card has wanted Ender's Game on the big screen for so long that Haley Joel Osment was considered for the role of Ender.

That's out of the question now. He could have been perfect! But imagine all of the special effects that could be done NOW! 

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game_(film) the kid from Hugo (Asa Butterfield) will be playing the role of Ender. I'm so excited to read who is playing what part, that I want to read the book all over again. Guess that means I've accepted the fact that my family won't be moving anytime soon so I better get to unpacking our books.

I know what you must be thinking, aren't I a reading enthusiast? Why would I pack my books away first?

What book would you like see turned into a movie? Perish the thought, but I think some books would have been better watched than read. Like any of the boring books that I had to read in high school and they were all about boys! What's up with that?!

In case you are a little like me and have dreamed about writing your own screenplay, I found a couple of sites that could come in handy.
http://www.writersstore.com/how-to-write-a-screenplay-a-guide-to-scriptwriting
http://www.simplyscripts.com/

Happy writing!

~Lady Jane

I Like Books

I like books, especially the ones that speak to my soul, the ones I wish weren't fiction!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was one such book. This is what I wrote on Goodreads.com about it: I absolutely loved this book! I kept forgetting that it was a novel, the characters were so real. While reading it, I wanted to go to Guernsey and meet the descendants of these people. It is a must-read! You won't be disappointed.

I had to keep it brief since there is too much praise for this book. On the other hand, I read a book, that was difficult to get through, not because of language or the scenes but just the plot line seemed to take a lifetime to develop! Reading is all about discovering what you like and don't like, isn't it?

Writing Jane Austen:

I don't know if I want to be an author anymore. This book surely shatters any glamour of being a published author. Aston really gets into the nitty-gritty of the publishing world thanks to the tortured relationship between Georgina and her literary agent. For Georgina, it's not about writing anymore, bearing her soul to the world through her late 19th century historical fiction novels, it's about finishing the job whether she likes it or not.

I wish I had been reading this with someone else. It would have been nice to complain about this book with someone who knew what was going on. Overall, I liked the book, but the story took forever to develop and once it got started, I wish there was more of it. And when I say story I mean the romantic story line that was developing. I think that it could have helped improve the book instead of just being about a writer's frustration with having to write a book that was so out of her own genre.

I had never read any of Aston's other books and I'm usually apprehensive about reading a contemporary book because there might be profanity, but I was pleasantly surprised to find very little and that it wasn't just for the sake of having profanity. It really did fit the characters.

As for a recommendation, I guess I would have to say that this book is mostly for writers who find themselves in similar situations, having to finish a book that no longer has meaning or not having the words to desperately finish a beloved piece. I think it would make a great book club selection mostly because the book comes with questions to ask and discuss amongst a group.

I think I would be willing to read it again if someone read it with me.

What books have you read that you loved? Suffered through?

~ Lady Jane

Composting

No, Goldberg didn't suddenly become fascinated with gardening. She's talking about all of our experiences and senses sifting through our subconscious until they become rich. She talks about how it's difficult to write about being in love whilst being in the middle of the experience, same goes for trying to write about a place you've never been or lived in for very long. She quotes about Hemingway, "Maybe away from Paris I could write about Paris as in Paris I could write about Michigan. I did not know it was too early for that because I did not know Paris well enough."

I know exactly what she is illustrating. I am writing a book. I wouldn't say it's great or even meaningful in any regard, but it's a feel-good, girl-meets-boy-girl-falls-for-boy-girl-and-boy-get-married kind of tale. I set my little story in San Luis Obispo, CA. I have been there (once) but I don't know it well enough to describe with great detail, the surroundings. I can make pretty good guesses and I do have the expertise of my husband who grew up on the central coast. So I'm not without resources. But it is difficult.

That's what she means by composting, immersing ourselves in our experiences until they become wholly part of us.

"Continue to turn over and over the organic details of your life until some of them fall through the garbage of discursive thoughts to the solid ground of black soil."

Even her analogies are incredibly well written!

I Would Be Lying...

if I said I never dreamed of publishing a book, singing on Broadway or voicing a popular Disney cartoon.

So that means I'm jealous of Janette Rallison (Sierra St. James), Julie Andrews and Mandy Moore.

I've known Janette Rallison for a few years now as an adult but I've known of her since I was five. She is my stay-at-home-mom-published-author role-model. I wish I devoted more time to actually writing in my novel that I started three years ago this June (Sheesh! Has it been that long?). But it's entirely my fault since I think I love sleep a little more right now than she does. She is an inspiration to me since she's published a bazillion books it seems.

I've been jealous of Julie Andrews since the first time I sat through The Sound of Music. I wished I could sing as well as she did. I even bought her Christmas album for my dad one year (that ended up being for me after my mom told me he wouldn't really like it) and I've been trying to match her tone ever since.

I've been jealous of Mandy Moore since I heard her voice coming through Rapunzel's in Disney's Tangled. I saw an interview of hers on Regis and Kelly when they asked her about how excited she was to be voicing Rapunzel. She said exactly what I would have, had I been in her shoes, that she had been dreaming to be a part of a Disney feature as a voice since she was a little girl. I even remember going to see The Little Mermaid as a very young girl when it came out in 1989 and I too wanted to be the voice of a Disney princess.

What are your hopes and aspirations?

~ Lady Jane