A book recommendation for writers. . . and readers

I keep forgetting to recommend a book I received for my birthday: Scout, Atticus, & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird by Mary McDonagh Murphy.  If you enjoy Harper's Lee's fifty-year-old classic, I think you'll find Murphy's tribute to be an entertaining look behind the scenes of the novel's creation, the making of the 1962 movie, and the life of a private American talent who called it quits on the publicity machine and never published another title.

The bulk of the book consists of essays written by people as diverse as Oprah Winfrey, Mary Badham (Scout from the movie), James Patterson, and Harper Lee's 98-year-old sister (who still works at the Lee family's law office!).  While the essays themselves don't always consist of exemplary writing, they offer lovely nuggets of wisdom about how to write an outstanding novel that will stand the test of time.  Some of the essayists describe the cleverness of To Kill a Mockingbird's opening paragraph.  At least two authors cite one of my favorite paragraphs as being a model use of sensory writing (it's the paragraph that describes the ladies as being "like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum").  Others discuss characterization and the bravery of tackling taboo subjects.

Scout, Atticus, & Boo is also a tribute to the art of writing a stand-alone novel, which is becoming a rarity in today's era of sequels and series.  I personally feel there's a great deal to be said about an author who's able to tie up all her loose ends within the pages of one book.  It's not always easy, but it's something to be admired.

As a writer, what I found most inspiring was the story behind Lee's original, contracted version of To Kill a Mockingbird, which was a far cry from the completed novel we see today.  Editor Tay Hohoff said of the first version, "There were dangling threads of a plot, there was a lack of unity."  It took two years of Lee rewriting the book before Mockingbird became publishable.  As I'm tearing into my own manuscript and rewriting major scenes, I keep thinking of the story behind To Kill a Mockingbird and reminding myself that revisions can be well worth the time and effort.  Even celebrated authors don't get it right the first time.

Celebrating with Christopher Walken and Edgar Allan Poe

Inspiration hit me as I was ridding the house of sick-kid germs today.

In my last post I mentioned I was rethinking my title, Blackbirds, because my latest critique partner said the blackbirds references are too subtle. While the vacuum was humming this morning, the gears in my head were spinning, and I figured out a beautifully creepy way of incorporating my theme of dark birds into a crucial part of the plot. I can't reveal my idea yet, but I'm doing a happy little dance as I type (well, not really, but I'm dancing on the inside). I love it when inspiration strikes me like that!

In celebration, here's a clip of Christopher Walken reading Poe's "The Raven":

How my novel, my websites, and I will be spending our autumn

I received suggestions from another critique partner (thanks, Kim!), and now I'm back to revisions for the rest of the calendar year. I feel like this stage resembles the challenges of assembling a jigsaw puzzle: scenes that I thought belonged in one place turn out fitting better in another, pieces of the story that I didn't even know existed show up, and some characters fit better when I view them another way.

I'll primarily be tackling character adjustments with my edits.  I worked on my ghost over the summer after he wasn't quite working right, and I think I've strengthened him as a character, but other folks now need some tweaking.  However, as daunting as the revision process seems when first starting out, I always find a tremendous sense of satisfaction when everything falls into place.

I've been debating altering my working title (Blackbirds), because it's currently too subtle.  I have another, longer one in mind, although my agent mentioned that sticking to one-word titles seems to be the preference of editors of young adult fiction.  What I think I'll do is increase the significance of blackbirds in the novel to keep my original title as a running candidate and see how I feel once I'm ready to submit.

In addition to hunkering down with revisions, I'm busy interviewing guests over at Suburban Vampire. This week I chatted with novelist Denise Verrico and Vampire Mob creator Joe Wilson. In the coming weeks, I'll be hosting Jasper Kent, Marta Acosta, David Michael Slater, Jonathan Maberry, Janice Gable Bashman, and Sophie Littlefield, the latter of whom shares my literary agent, Barbara Poelle (and Sophie happens to be making her debut in young adult fiction with a novel called Banished in October!).  I'm also hosting several giveaways.  Definitely visit.