Vlad and Dillon (the main characters of Eighth Grade Bites and Beyond the Looking Glass for those of you just now joining us…and where have you been, anyway? That’s it, see me after class. Now, where were we? Ah yes, Vlad and Dillon…) are two very different people. But sometimes I think they’d have a lot of fun hanging out together. Not for long, though. Eventually, Vlad would get sick of Dillon’s mouth and bite him. Okay…on second thought, maybe they need to stay in their respective corners.
Yesterday I had one of those moments, those hard-to-breathe moments while I was reading something my Crit Partner sent me. She’s so amazing. I wish I could write like her. *sigh* But it made me wonder…if all writers feel that way about another writer, who does Stephen King envy? What about JK Rowling? Who do they wish they could write like? Or do they sit around thinking about how much they love writing like themselves? Hmmm. It does make one wonder. Or, maybe it doesn’t. I’m really just rambling here.
Today I’ll be bouncing back and forth between editing Ninth Grade Sucks and polishing the first few chapters of Beyond the Looking Glass (my agent says we may try to sell it based on the partial and outline–yay!). After that, I’m going to finish off reading Christopher Moore’s A Dirty Job and then maybe work on some web content. Basically, today will be filled with so much hair-pulling, that I ought to be completely bald by mid-afternoon. (No offense, Ewoh)
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Awww sweetie, no offense taken. I was actually moved that you mentioned me by name in your blog.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Looking Glass to sell with the partial and outline.
You are so incredible and wonderful and talented. I would love to know who you admire as a writer, and why.
For me, it’s Neil Gaiman – he is just so brilliant and entertaining. I can read one of his books, and as soon as I am done, start over again. I also love to read Wiliam Gibson because of his ability to weave technology into a story without making it into a technical manual. In the realm of fantasy I love to read Marion Zimmer Bradley, Anne McCaffrey and C. J. Cherryh. There are others, but my favorite stories were written by them.
I still love reading Bradbury, Heinlein, Niven, Poul Anderson, Moorcock and others.
I’m quite sure I have left many of my favorites out, but that’s a good start.
You are SO sweet!
And Neil Gaiman is a GOD, hands down.
For adult fiction, I like: Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Anne Rice’s earlier works, Poppy Z. Brite, Ray Bradbury, Christopher Moore, Shakespeare (of course), Alexandre Dumas, Oscar Wilde…I know there are more, but these are my faves. I used to read a lot of fantasy, but horror will always be my first love.
And I can’t even count all the children’s authors I adore.
Ray Bradbury – we just had a discussion about him. Hands down, all the students in my fun little club agreed with me on him being one of the best writers.
“…Shakespeare (of course), Alexandre Dumas, Oscar Wilde…” see, I knew I was forgetting folks
I was just trying to keep it in the SF/F realm. Don’t even get me started on classical literature and poetry… that could take hours.
I just remembered a book that I have read so many times that it is actually starting to fall apart: The Masters of Solitude by Marvin Kaye and Parke Godwin. I’m thinking I need to dig this one out again and give it another run (wheeee!).
What I love about Bradbury is that he takes chances and goes places most people don’t dare. A master, for sure.
It always makes me worry when my favorites start falling apart…some of them can be pretty hard to find. Others, like CATCHER IN THE RYE, will be around forever.
OK, just for you dear… a goth video of dominoes falling in a dungeon. Well, for Vlad too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyHiIeBsc9E
That was excellent
Thank you.
Michael Cunningham is my hero. I’m tempted to highlight paragraphs in his books for their beauty, emotion and visual impact. My favorite is A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD.
A newer discovery, although he’s been around for years, is Mark Doty. I just completed HEAVEN’S COAST: A MEMOIR. Sigh!
Christopher
Man, there are so many authors I wish I could write like. I’ll be reading a story and suddenly something will hit me, almost like a physical sensation — my God, this is f****** brilliant! And for that moment, I’m completely awed: I’ll never write like that, it’s too good, it almost hurts, that’s how strong the writing is. Then I pull myself out of it and finish reading.
My most recent moment like this was reading Chris Moore’s A DIRTY JOB. Oh. My. God. Brilliance.
You know what? It’s okay to have that moment of jealousy/envy (I’m really not clear on the diff here). Because lemme tell you, other authors have it too. I bet your crit partner is totally enthralled by Vlad and Dillon. That’s what makes crit partners so damn helpful — they come to look at your characters, your story, your very writing, in ways that you yourself probably can’t see. The whole “I’m too close to this” thing.
Envy? Not such a deadly sin, in my opinion.
*makes a list of the authors listed here* Must…read…more!
But no one here has answered my question. Who does Stephen King Envy?
Hmmm. I don’t remember if he answered that question in ON WRITING. I recall a Q&A section on his website. Any answer there?
C.
I don’t remember anything like that mentioned in ON WRITING either (which should be required reading for all writers). I’ll do some poking around…it’d be interesting to know.
after viewing the domino video (i know it wasn’t for me, but Heather ALWAYS shares!), one has to wonder: how does one end up finding a video such as that?
I think it’s safe to say that Brian was procrastinating…BIG TIME.
Waitadarnsecond! I don’t ALWAYS share. I’m actually quite selfish.
MINE! Uhh…you know, when you’re done with it.
… bbbut, bbut… I was researching… yeah, that’s it, researching.
Actually, I was playing hookey again between work things and found it posted on boing boing (http://www.boingboing.net/).