Writer of the Week #12: Flynn Meaney

Flynn is the author of the book Bloodthirsty.

Name: Flynn Meaney

Age: 24

Website: www.flynnmeaney.com (or find me on Facebook)

Location: New York City

When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?
My parents read aloud to me when I was growing up, even after I could read myself—
my dad read all of Gone with the Wind out loud to me (with voices for all the characters!
). So I kind of ‘thought in narration’ from a young age. My elementary school had a little
publishing room where volunteer moms typed our stories on typewriters and bound them
in these little book covers. In second grade, I “published” The Crazy Class, in which I
used the names of all my classmates in a slightly exaggerated story about us terrorizing a
substitute teacher. They loved having their names in there, and that was my first work of
funny, realistic fiction.

Name 5 authors and 5 books (do not necessarily have to be your favorites).

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, The
Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Tender
is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (these are SOME of my favorites!)

Where do you get your inspiration from?
For stories to tell: from newspaper and magazine articles, often about trends that are
going on in the world (trends for teenagers if I’m writing YA at the time), and of course
experiences I have, or my friends have. A book that got some stories starting in my head
was Mythology for Dummies, which has brief overviews of myths from all different
cultures.

For how to tell stories: the Freytag plot diagram (I first found it on Wikipedia) and
great movies, TV shows and books of all genres. Whenever I watch a great movie (I’m
working my way through the AFI Top 100) or read a great book, or even just a popular
book, I write down five things that make it great. Of course, a lot of those qualities
overlap, even from very different genres and in different media—characters with strong
motivations (love, revenge, protection of a loved one) drive almost every story.

What do you think is the best quality a writer can have?
Specificity. This is important for all kinds of writing, whether you’re analyzing a
poem for an English essay, constructing a world for an epic fantasy novel, where the
little details can make an exotic and fictional world come alive for readers, or writing
something comedic and trying to make readers laugh. There’s such a difference
between, “Instead of going on a date, I spent Saturday night on the couch, eating and
watching TV,” and “Instead of going on a date, I spent Saturday night lying on my couch
watching a three-hour infomercial about a grease-free grill and licking the seasoning off
Cool Ranch Doritos.” Neither of these is really funny, but you can see that the second one
paints a funnier picture because the details exaggerate how pathetic the situation is.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!
Only a foot away from the great white shark, the girl—her pulse racing, her rapid
heartbeats counting the rows and rows of teeth, her mind picturing the fanged zipper of
that bowling bag mouth shutting her severed head inside-- gave silent thanks for the thick
aquarium glass.

Thank you so much for all of your answers, Flynn! If anyone else would like to be a writer of the week, please follow the instructions here.

Doe Library's 100th Birthday Party!

It's not very often one gets to be a student at a renowned university while the university's famous library is celebrating its centennial. Party in the library? With cupcakes? And free book giveaways? And the chance to meet Maxine Hong Kingston? And no red plastic cups with disgusting alcohol in sight? How often does that happen?

Fliers announcing the celebration were all over the Cal campus.

March 21, 2012, Wednesday, was Doe Library's 100th birthday celebration! I went to cover the event for Caliber Magazine. In addition, since the event is literary-related, I decided that it would fit into my personal blog as well, so I'm now typing this up!

A miniature of Doe Library (and its surroundings) against a backdrop of fireworks in the hallway. 

 

Athena smiling and blessing anyone with potent study skills when they enter the library. But be warned! If you exit the library through this same door, she will get angry and take away your ability to recall what you've studied.

The book giveaway in 303 Doe was crowded!

I was so happy I went to the book giveaway early! A mega-long line was forming outside. Everyone could take a maximum of five books. I got four: a Norton Anthology on Victorian literature, a Norton Anthology on Romantic literature, a behind-the-scenes book on James Cameron's Titanic, and Your Chinese Roots: The Overseas Chinese Story by Thomas Tsu-wee Tan.

Newspapers/Microforms Room 

California Golden Overtones singing in the North Reading Room. 

The University Chamber Chorus performing Claude Debussy's "Trois chansons" in the Heyns Reading Room. 

At 4:30, cupcakes were given out! About 1700 cupcakes were distributed to patrons. I got two cupcakes, but people could only take one at a time, so I had to wait in line to get the second cupcake. But it was worth it.

There were chocolate cupcakes... 

...and vanilla too. 

At 5:30, there were speakers in the library who reflected upon the history of Doe Library and the impact of it upon UC Berkeley. Just hearing them speak about how influential, how scholarly, and how famous the library system is just makes me so proud to be a Cal bear.

Maxine Hong Kingston was one of the speakers. She signed my copy of "The Woman Warrior"!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D 

I got a photo with best-selling author Annie Barrows too! :D

A map that Earl Kingston and Maxine Hong Kingston brought in.

This beautiful map of Berkeley, which survived a fire that destroyed the Kingstons' home years ago, was discovered. It says:

"This is the map of Berkeley town

Its streets go winding up and down

An oak-covered campus it wears for a crown

With people and places of renown" 

*sniff* Again, so proud to be a Cal bear.

 

The Main Library used copies of the National Union Catalog to build "100" 

Balloons were everywhere in the library! 

Well, this blog post is less formal than the one I had posted for Caliber Magazine. If you want to read it, here is...
Recap of the event
Birthday announcement/invitation


Happy birthday, Doe Library!

Writer of the Week #11: C.E. Hyun

C.E. Hyun was most recently published in the February 2012 issue of Underneath the Juniper Tree.

Name:  C.E. Hyun
Age:  26
Website:  www.cehyun.com
Location:  Chapel Hill, North Carolina

When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?
I’ve been writing and drawing since I was little and took a few creative writing classes in high school and college, but I didn’t start submitting stories for publication until 2009-2010-ish.

Name 5 authors and 5 books (do not necessarily have to be your favorites).
Mary Gaitskill
Carson McCullers
S.E. Hinton
Laura Ingalls Wilder
K.A. Applegate

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower
Batman: The Long Halloween written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Tim Sale
The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock

Where do you get your inspiration from?
Totally depends on the individual story.  I get it from real-life people and situations.  From my own life.  Places I’ve been or places I wish existed.  Books/movies/TV.  Current food obsessions.  Inspiration from my iPod.  Et cetera.

What do you think is the best quality a writer can have?
Compassion.  A sense of play.  A willingness to be vulnerable and emotionally honest.  I’m all about character-driven work, and love authors who care about their characters—both major and minor—and recognize their possibilities even while acknowledging their weaknesses and flaws.

Any last words? (Fun facts, comments, something you'd like to share with the world, etc.)
My one-sentence story was inspired by my current obsession with kale chips!  It’s just chopped up kale tossed and baked with olive oil, fresh ground pepper, and lemon juice.  Amazingly delicious, and a nice snack to recharge the creative writing brain.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!
That ridiculous guild and all their rules on poisonous apples! the witch thought as she furiously baked up a batch of deadly kale chips.


Thanks so much, C.E.! If anyone else would like to be a Writer of the Week, please follow the instructions here.

Dancing With a Paraplegic

I'm now in the process of typing chapter 6!
In this chapter, there is a ball. Since Princess Isolda is paraplegic, I was wondering how one dances with a paraplegic. So, I went onto Youtube and found these two videos:

Here's one of a boyfriend showing and instructing viewers how he slow-dances with his paraplegic girlfriend.

A couple's first dance at their wedding reception.

These videos were really helpful for me. I hope that I will be able to portray the dance realistically, and that people will like reading the dance scene (if they read my book at all...hopefully I will have readers in the future!).

Writer of the Week #10: Francene Stanley

Name: Francene Stanley


Age: I've just turned seventy. I can hardly believe I've reached this age. Back in 1958, during the early rock-n-roll years, I thought I'd die before I reached sixteen. No idea why. Who does at that age? I defied my mother by riding on the back of a motorbike, thinking nothing mattered and that you can't alter fate, which I accepted as preordained. Of course, my early death never came about. I've learned so much along the way, both bitter and sweet.


Website: http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.com/Francene.


Location: Although I spent the first forty five years of my life in South Australia, I live in outer London and the Untied Kingdom is my country of choice.


When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?
In 2007 I began to write my first novel. Before then, I worked in the catering business full time—hard work, which left no energy for anything else. After songwriting, I turned to poetry and once I'd exhausted every topic I could think of, a novel came to mind, loosely based on my life. Of course, I longed to have the story published, but the road to writing a good story stretched ahead. I've now signed the contract for the novel: Still Rock Water.


Name 5 authors and 5 books.
I read and read from the time I was young. Ann of Green Gables, The Famous Five and Pollyanna inspired me. In my twenties, I inherited my grandmother's Science Fiction collection published from as early as the Twenties. I devoured every one. Asimov, Tolstoy and Tolkien inspired me. Then, in my thirties, I read books about Edgar Cayce's 'readings' and the concept captivated me about past lives and what happens when we die. I love Sarum, a massive novel about the Salisbury Cathedral through reincarnated builders. For me, characters need to be complex and learn during each lifetime.


Where do you get your inspiration from?
My inspiration comes from people I've known and newspaper articles. Of my three children, two have died before me. I like to use the best in their personalities to honor their life. People who have hurt me in the past lend reality to the evil intentions of characters, yet I understand how they felt at the time and forgive them for their lack of understanding.


What is the best quality a writer can have?
Each writer gives a part of themselves. They share their passion, joy and sorrow. If a reader can live each moment with a character and see through their eyes, they are lifted out of their normal environment. The best thing a writer can give is: understanding. Following the greatest commandment: Love thy neighbor.


Any last words?
If only I could share optimism with my readers. They can find a way out of every dark situation if they remain steadfast. And dress in their very best clothes of course, Jo  ;-) Nothing makes a girl feel better.


Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!
Although Mrs. Penguin had thrown him out of the nest, Wally waddled to the edge of the ice, dived underwater, caught a fat fish and sprang back with his prize in his mouth, sure of his reinstatement.

Thank you so much, Francene! If anyone else would like to be a Writer of the Week,  please follow the instructions here.

Eight of Swords

From the Rider-Waine deck, the most popular tarot deck.

Currently, I am typing up draft #2 of chapter 5. It's been quite slow, especially with schoolwork, and trying to weave in a lot of new scenes that were not present in the first draft. But slowly and surely, I'm inching my way towards the day I can start submitting my manuscript.

I'm not sure how much of a spoiler this is, but Isolda is the eleven-year-old paraplegic wheelchair-bound tarot card-reading princess in my novel. The very first tarot reading she gives when readers meet her has the tarot card Eight of Swords. I'm not going to say who she's reading her cards for, but she tells her querent that the Eight of Swords symbolizes one who is blinded by fear. Notice how the woman in the card has a blindfold on and is bound in fear? Yet, all around her, the swords are just standing or lying there. They are not harming her. However, she is too frightened to realize this, and is therefore trapped in her own fear.

From the Gothic Bohemian Tarot Deck, which I own and read.

As quoted from Ata-Tarot.com, the Eight of Swords "usually indicates a time of powerlessness and restriction, and more often than not this restriction is self-imposed. You may be holding yourself back because you fear moving into the future, or because you are wary of getting hurt by a new situation....The reason for its manifestation is to show you that you can escape your situation just as quickly as you put yourself into it....No matter how difficult your situation, the Eight of Swords shows that there are always options and ways to escape."

I think this is something everyone can relate to. Sometimes, I can get so scared of failing or being rejected, that I might just forfeit and never pursue what I wish I could achieve. Now that I think about it, it's like writing--I have encountered people who say they wish they could write, but they believe they can't because they are self-proclaimed "horrible writers" or that they can't focus on writing. Not meaning to sound preachy, I think one should shed self-doubt and the fear of being vulnerable to rejection or failure. Even if it doesn't work out, the best you can say is that at least you had the experience of trying, and you know that you did not merely curl up on a couch and stuff yourself with ice cream because that was the safest course to traverse.

The Eight of Swords also applies to my own personal fears. There are times I become paralyzed with thoughts of what may happen in the worst-case scenario, but I know I can't stay still. I have to take action! I have to be able to cut away at my bounds and face my fears and perhaps realize that, all along, my fears were only monsters in my mind, and that they are not manifested in reality. I also have a huge fear I'm facing tomorrow...something in my personal life...it gives me intense shivers and jitters thinking about it, but I'm prepared to face it head-on, even if it slaps me in the face. Even a slap is a confirmation of what may happen tomorrow to me.

Oh, my cheesy ramblings! Well, I hope you at least got something from this blog post. :)

Writer of the Week #9: Roderick Townley

Check out Roderick's fantasy middle-grade novel The Blue Shoe, with a beautiful cover illustrated by Mary GrandPre (who is renowned for her Harry Potter illustrations)

Name: Roderick Townley

Age: More than 3 times your age, but less mature

Website : www.rodericktownley.com

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RoderickTownley

Location: Kansas

When did you realize you wanted to be a published author?
    I never thought that "writer" and "author" were synonyms, any more than "actor" and "star" are synonyms. I just wanted to write well and worked to improve, going through grad school not to get a credential but to learn how great writers wrote. The publishing came slowly, small things in little magazines. When I had an actual novel, I walked into St. Martin's Press in New York and had a nice talk with an editor, leaving the book in his hands. A month later I got a phone call. They wanted to publish the thing. Suddenly I was that wondrous being, an "author." I've gone on to publish 15 books.

Name 5 authors and 5 books:
    The Duino Elegies, by Rainer Maria Rilke, Little Big, by John Crowley, The Afterlives of Trees, by Wyatt Townley, The Carrier of Ladders, by W.S. Merwin, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
    Where does the wind come from? From everywhere. Sometimes from a dream, sometimes from telling my wife a bedtime story, sometimes from my days as a journalist, when I'd go into coal mines, or war zones, or corporate boardrooms. Most often from remembering myself as a 9-year-old taking in the world for the first time.

What is the best quality a writer can have?
    Avid listening.

Any last words?
    Love your characters, even the villains. For they are you.

Challenge: Write a one-sentence story!
    Hoping to bring back his dead wife, the magician creates a portal through the spiral of a black rose, with dire consequences for himself.




Thank you so much, Roderick! If anyone is interested in being a writer of the week, please follow the instructions here.

To be Published in Thrones of Desire

I found out a few weeks ago from editor Mitzi Szereto that I'm going to be one of the authors of the fantasy short story anthology Thrones of Desire! I'm afraid I cannot post the cover art here because, although warranted by the erotic theme of the anthology, the cover is not...G-rated. However, for the illustrative purpose of this blog post, here is an alternative image I decided to use, a painting by Josephine Wall, which I feel, although not representative of my Snow Queen character, captures the essence of my story, Key to the Queen's Elixir.

Polar Princess,  by Josephine Wall, painted in acrylics

 Key to the Queen's Elixir is the tale of a snow queen who lives alone in eternal winter and kills every intruder who dares to enter her realm. One intruder, a feverish and weakened knight, dares to step into her world on a quest for an elixir to heal an epidemic that is killing the children in his hometown. Although the snow queen sentences the knight to death, she discovers that he wears a familiar silver key around his neck. This key he wears convinces the queen to delay his death and question his identity.

Way back when I had my story posted on Deviantart to garner feedback (it is no longer up there, now that I have been accepted into the anthology), here are some of the reviews I was proud to receive. I hope this means that future readers will enjoy my story as well!

~A-Shadow-Rose Nov 22, 2011

<sub>I absolutely LOVE this! This is such a beautiful story. The ending nearly brought me to tears; it reminded me of the original Little Mermaid, how Ariel turned to foam in the sea and wash washed away...

I loved when things got hot and heavy. ^^ I'm too young, but that was intense. XD Don't worry, I'm not getting any funny ideas. It was beautifully written in my perspective.

Very well done!</sub> 

 

*tanafeyroyale Nov 13, 2011

Love it, love it, love it! It had such a sad ending, but sometimes that makes the best story.

 

~NyaHime Nov 9, 2011

this is really nicely written :3 bit like a fairy tale for adults ^^ its a bit sad ending, but when you think about it, its just the perfect one for them... its a bit like the original little mermaid, not the disney-fied one where everyone lives happily ever after. job well done <3

Here is the list of all of the wonderful contributors. A lot of them have been published multiple times. I feel so honored to see my name here with them.

 Hot as a Dragon’s Blood – Eric Del Carlo
Of High Renown – Janine Ashbless
At the Sorcerer’s Command – Kim Knox
Silver – Anna Meadows
In the Kingdom of Roz – Madeline Moore
Key to the Queen’s Elixir – Jo Wu (it's me! Hehe!)
Here There Be Dragons – Ashley Lister
Flesh and Stone – Sacchi Green
Saints and Heroes – M. H. Crane
Escape – Mitzi Szereto
Eyekeeper – Aurelia T. Evans
The Widow’s Man – Nyla Nox
Jericho – Megan Arkenberg
The Last Sacrifice – Zander Vyne

If you want to view the cover art, here is the book available for pre-order on Barnesandnoble.com. Rated PG-13 for nudity. Don't say I didn't warn you!

And, to bring this post to a conclusion, here is a beautiful wintry song called "The White Queen" by one of my favorite neoclassical bands, Nox Arcana, from their album Winter's Eve.