It was a...

Earlier today, I was taking part in a conversation at Coffee Time Romance [http://www.coffeetimeromance.com] about what readers need in a novel to hold their interest and whether or not they would give an author a second chance if the first they read wasn't very good.

It reminded me of another conversation at Author Nation [http://www.authornation.com] recently where a genre writer was cursing "literature" (meaning literary fiction) and said he couldn't tell anyone why "It was a dark and stormy night" was not a good opening line.

Personally, I'm not interested in reading work by an author who does not know why it isn't, regardless of their genre. That was one thing I pointed out in the first discussion.

I realize the writer's point was that much literary fiction is overdone and pretentious. However, the generalization that it all is and that authors shouldn't have to study the craft well enough to be able to write pretentiously makes me shake my head. Yes, they should. No matter what genre an author writes, the craft should be studied and the rules learned, even if they are broken.

What do you think? How many of you readers and writers know the problem with that opening line? How many think I'm crazy to think it isn't a good way to start a novel?

The rest of my answer as to what I need for a novel to hold me:

1) Characterization -- they have to have real depth
2) Writing quality -- beautiful, deep characters will mean nothing if the craft of the story is poor

Oh, and watch the adverbs.

Romance Chat!

Come on over to my message board and let's virtually chat about romance, books, authors, heroes, heroines, writing, or anything else romantically art related! I'll be in and out all day..

http://www.voy.com/198742/

Book Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

"Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking."
Kahlil Gibran

At the end of Anna Karenina, this quote by Gibran seems a good summary of the novel that many call the world's greatest.

It took me a fair amount of time to read the sprawling epic set in Russia before her revolution. As a writer, I often thought it could be enhanced by better editing. The repetitions in it served to make it longer than necessary while not adding to the story line, and at times, it seemed an impossible task to get through.

However, I love character-driven stories that show "why" more than "what." Anna Karenina is all about the "why" the characters act as they do. Set in Russia before its Revolution, Anna Karenina is a true psychological study of not only the Russian people and their society, but societal and personal issues of all mankind.

Following the story of a married woman disenchanted by her dull life and marriage who steps out of bounds to seek passion, Anna Karenina shows the effects not only on herself, but on those she left behind and on all those who love her. At the same time, we have a story of the wealthy class versus the laborers, and the faithful versus the faithless and the searching. We have views of the government from the inside and out, of the arts, of philosophers, and of both men and women.

Tolstoy puts himself in the novel as one of the characters, with much of the story imitating his lfe. He was writing what he knew. Levin's thoughts are his. Many of the events are real events, fictionalized. This, somehow, makes it feel all more legitimate. The swaying emotions of the story are so passionate and true that it does have a tendency to exhaust the reader at times. Still, we remain pulled in by the unending action, the closeness of the characters who are vivid enough to be as real to us as they were to Tolstoy, and the truths revealed along the way.

Tolstoy was a well-educated man, but he did not stop at book learning. He went beyond, pondering the difference between book learning and real life experience, and laying all of that pondering out for us in the novel. There is no moral slapping us in the face and no judgment of any of the characters. They are who they are and we learn from who they are and how it affects their lives.

This is a story of love, of society, of faith, of doubt, and of truth. It should be required reading for all high school seniors before they enter the world where their decisions will be affecting all of us.


My favorite quotes from the book:

In the discussions which took place between the brothers on their views of the peasantry, Koznyshev was always victorious, precisely because he had definite ideas about the peasant -- his character, his qualities, and his tastes -- while Levin had no definite and fixed views on the subject, and so in their arguments Levin was readily convicted of contradicting himself. (pg.258)

The better he knew his brother, the more he noticed that Kaznyshev, and many other people who worked for the welfare of the public, were not led by an impulse of the heart to care for the public good, but had reasoned out in their minds that it was a right thing to take interest in public affairs, and consequently took interest in them. (pg.259)

God gave the day, God gave the strength for it. And the day and the strength were consecrated to labour, and that labour was its own reward. For whom the labour? What would be its fruits? These were idle considerations beside the point. (pg.297)

Levin maintained that the mistake of Wagner and his followers lay in trying to make music enter the domain of another art, just as poetry goes wrong when it tries to depict the features of a face, which is the function of painting. (pg. 717)

I assume that a salary is a payment for value received, and should conform to the law of supply and demand. If that law be ignored when fixing a salary -- as, for instance, when I see two engineers leaving college together, both equally well trained and efficient, and one getting forty thousand while the other is content with two; or when hussars and graduates of the law schools, having no special qualifications, are appointed directors of banking societies with gigantic salaries -- I conclude that these salaries are not determined in accordance with the law of supply and demand but simply through personal influence. And this is an abuse of great gravity in itself, and one which has an injurious effect on the Government service. (pg.754)

So it is with the unanimity of the Press. It's been explained to me: as soon as there is a war their circulation is doubled. How can they help considering that the fate of the people and the Slavonic races ... and all the rest of it? (pg.844)

When Levin puzzled over what he was and what he was living for, he could find no answer and fell into despair; but when he left off worrying about the problem of his existence he seemed to know both what he was and for what he was living, for he acted and lived resolutely and unfalteringly. (pg.824)

I was in search of an answer to my question. But reason could not give an answer to my questions -- reason is incommensurable with the problem. The answer has been given me by life itself, through my knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. And this knowledge I did not acquire in any way: it was given to me as it is to everybody -- given, because I could not have got it from anywhere. (pg.832)

-- Note: page numbers refer to the 1978 edition by Penguin Classics entitled Anna Karenin, London, England.

2008 and Today

Today is my first official full day back to work this year.

I work from home, so I suppose it would be hard to tell, but I have been putting family and the house first (a new house that needs personal-touch upgrading) over the holidays while circumstances made it the right time to do that, pushing aside much of my own work until the right time came to return to it steadily. Part of me always resents the intrusion into my work time, even when the intrusion is enjoyable. Breaks are good, however, as long as they don't become too extended.

One of my goals this year, since I do goals now instead of resolutions, is to write every day, on break or on holiday notwithstanding. It may be no more than a couple of paragraphs given the day's circumstances, but it will be something -- something other than blogging and email, something creative. So far, I have done that, and yes, there have been days it was only a paragraph or two, but it was new and creative. Art is like anything else; it must be routinely practiced to have a 'building' effect that causes improvement.

So far, I have finished a short contest entry entitled "Dear Me" -- a letter to myself about what I want to accomplish during the year; I have started a new short story about one of my favorite novel characters to delve more deeply into a time of his life that isn't included in one of the novels in my series; and maybe most exciting, last night I finally finished the complete rewrite of the novel fans are asking for ... the second of the Rehearsal series. It has only taken me a year and a half to do the rewrite. Only. Yes well, it is somewhere close to 200,000 words and in between I've done several short stories and the first 60,000 words of two other novels along with my online job, kids, and moving to a new state.

Today I start the major editing of it. I may be in the minority, but I love the editing process. I love going back and grimacing at some of the strange sentence structures that came from a tired brain and reworking them until they have just the right effect. I love being able to let myself highlight whole sections that aren't really necessary and clicking the delete key. I always save each complete draft, which makes that less scary. Mainly, I love seeing something rough sharpen and lighten and become more for the reader than for me.

Today, as well, my oldest child started college. It's an exciting time (never mind the tuition/books bill) that takes me back to my own college days and all of the vivid memories. It also means she will be out of the house not only for her variable part time job hours but for a set time two days a week that I can count on as being "mine" and mine alone.

Today, my husband is back to work after a long, well-deserved holiday break.

Today, I pushed further into an affiliation with a new organization I am proud to be associated with: Books for Boots.

Today, I also start the revamp of my website to include the info on this association.

Today ... is full of possibilities.

What are all of you doing with your todays?

P.S. I Love You (no spoilers review)

Gerard Butler and Hillary Swank

in

P.S. I Love You

Scotsman Gerard Butler came to the forefront in Hollywood with Phantom of the Opera, starred in Shattered (among others), and picked up speed in 300. Anyone who has seen him on Letterman or Craig Ferguson knows he is a true, all-or-nothing, high adventure, charming and seductive Scot. It was said that his newest movie shows the true Gerry. If so, it must have been a lot of fun on the set of P.S. I Love You. Can you tell I'm a Gerard Butler fan?

I'm actually a new fan who was less than impressed with some parts of his rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. It wasn't the voice that bothered me. It was the fact that some of it was out of his range -- the fault of the producer/director, not the actor. He tried, and otherwise it was pleasant and the acting of it was beautiful.

He also sings, this time with acoustic guitar (my favorite way to listen to a nice voice), in his newest film. I was actually quite impressed. I tend to be a music snob. I like many genres but they have to have true music quality, not only cute faces or pounding beats. I would love to have the full versions of Gerry singing the songs he did bits of in the movie. Very nice. Very smooth. Very sensual. Alas, they are not included on the soundtrack, so I will not be picking that one up.

As for the movie, it was nicely done, filmed both in the States and in Ireland, featuring the Emerald Isle's incredible scenery. With most films, I can guess the ending within the first ten minutes. I didn't with this one. I like that about it. I like the true-to-life emotions that weren't overdone or underdone. I like the points made about life and love and loss and moving forward. I loved the fun playfulness of Gerard's character and the way he portrayed it. I liked the bits of Irish customs that were real, not characterized or cliched. And I liked the music.

I write literary romance and that's how I would describe this movie. It's romance, yes, but it has such a nice story and realistic, likeable characters who matter to the audience. It has culture, psychology, relationship issues of different kinds, and a suitable (not sappy) ending. This is a romance at its best.

The only thing I didn't quite understand is what Hillary's character was living on financially. It makes a point of showing how tight money is, but she doesn't seem at all constricted once she's on her own. That point threw it off just a bit for me, as I'm a realist type, but it wasn't a big issue.

All of the actors did a nice job. Hillary Swank portrayed a confused artistic-type wife trying to fit into society's expectations and the world of 9-to5 jobs quite well (which is hard for business types to truly understand), and Lisa Kudrow is always enjoyable, but Gerard Butler made the film worth buying. I will be buying it as soon as it's available.

The Demon Barber ... a safe pre-review

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

starring Johnny Depp
produced by Tim Burton

When I saw a little clip not long ago of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, my jaw literally dropped when I heard Johnny singing! I sure hoped it was more than a couple of minutes. Okay, I knew nothing of the musical before this so it was all new to me and I have no comparisons to make to the original. I don't honestly care about comparisons.

I've read a couple of critical reviews already saying his voice, and others, are thin on the soundtrack. Thin. Hmm... I'm really very critical about music and voices myself, and I was in constant awe of just how well he did with the part. He's an actor, not a singer. Okay, he was into music before acting. Still, he's not a trained singer as you get in most musicals. Neither is Helena Bonham Carter. And Sondheim musicals are particularly not so easy to sing. The parts were complex, with quick tempos and battling duets, but they were brilliant.

What do you get when you put an actor into a singing role? You get an acted musical, not only a performed musical. Johnny acted this singing role so perfectly, I was honestly on the verge of tears now and then and I did have goosebumps -- not because of the story line, but because of the performance. All of the performances were good. His was exquisite.

It is rated R for violence and sexual inuendos, and of course with the story line it is graphic violence, but it's not overly distasteful. It's "Hollywood graphic" more than "reality graphic" and I much prefer that. A "horror wimp" like myself got through it with no big issues.

There were times I was chuckling out loud and times when I was trying to help "write" the plot in my head (career hazard, I suppose), but in general, I was completely drawn in and full of nothing except the incredible film invading my thoughts. That's hard to do. Few films hold my attention that well ... well enough to shove aside my list of everything I should have been doing in order to be truly focused.

This is a must see for those who love pure expressive art, as it is a true rainbow blend of all of the arts at once. Now to find the soundtrack. And I'm hoping to find time to see it in the theater again.

Behind the Novel: Different Drummer

The following is something I wrote in 2004 for a prompt that asked writers to list a favorite quote and explain what it meant to us personally:

~~ ~~ ~~
A rather unfashionable plaque that looks as though it may have been plucked from a garage sale adorns a place in my den where others are unlikely to take notice. To be honest, it's not much to see, with its thin wood frame containing nothing but a lacquered fake-texture background on which is printed a few words:

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away. ~ Thoreau"

A few words.

Let's face it, being an artistic type isn't exactly a well-understood trait. We see things differently, and others see us differently. This is something I, as an artistic type, have struggled with for many years. All adolescents have the difficult journey of trying to define themselves, but add to this the hundreds of stories rushing through your brain that you know are a real part of yourself, or the way you look at a tree and see not only the tree, but the structure, lines, grace, blending of colors and shadows that cause you to stare until those around you begin snickering. We different drummers get used to the snickering as we grow and become more comfortable with ourselves. We may not get used to dealing with the attitudes from those who don't understand.

These few words echo through my mind and soul whenever the attitudes crash around me. They have reverberated often enough and deeply enough by this time to have become part of me, even though they are not my words. This is what I hope to achieve with my writing: to say something that makes enough difference to readers that it reverberates through their souls.

The plaque, simple and unbecoming, has an honored place in my den. Others have no need to realize why it hangs where I can see it when I look away from the monitor, struggling with words and wondering at the logic of following the artistic life. It reminds me to keep marching to my own beat and remember the value of a few words.

LK Hunsaker
~~ ~~ ~~

When I started showing the cover of Rehearsal: A Different Drummer to a few people for their opinions, one of them asked why it showed guitars when the title was about a drummer. With the quote above, I suppose it's easy enough to know why I did, but readers of course wouldn't have the advantage of reading the quote and my thoughts about it first. It is about drummers ... about different drummers who don't all happen to play the drums. It's about the arts and artists: the oddities, the sacrifices, the misunderstandings, the need to follow a personal path despite outer opinion -- and it's about the way all of those things affect and change us and those around us.

The cover is more appropriate than I can explain right now, with three more of the series to come, but there is a point to what looks like a title that doesn't fit the image. It does. It's a bit of foreshadowing.

As I'm working on ideas for the cover of the second of the series, the quote I'll be taking the title from will also be in my thoughts, although that may not be apparent, either.

"If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship,
he would keep it in port forever."
St. Thomas Aquinas

Twelve Days...

It's a Twelve Days of Christmas Give-Aways raffle from LKHunsaker.com!

LK Hunsaker, literary romance novelist, is celebrating Christmas by giving arts-related gifts to readers. To enter, email your name and general location to ElucidatePublishing[at]yahoo.com and list your favorite fiction genre or your favorite novel. There will be a random winner drawn each day beginning December 14th and ending December 25th, so be sure to have your entry in before 6 pm (Eastern US time) on the 14th! Winners will be emailed and asked for their mailing addresses (info will not be shared in any way). In January, all entrants will be sent an invitation to subscribe to LK Hunsaker's newsletter, which can be either accepted or denied.

Raffle prizes:

14th: 12 signed bookmarks
15th: 11 blue mood pencils
16th: 10 Elucidations art pens
17th: 9 signed book plates
18th: 8 stamped postcards
19th: 7 artsy pencils
20th: 6 packs of stickers
21st: 5 calligraphy markers
22nd: 4 sheets of labels (personalized)
23rd: 3 pretty notebooks
24th: 2 music candles (rain-scented, custom made by http://www.schoolcornercrafts.com/)
25th: 1 Rehearsal gift set: signed copy of Rehearsal: A Different Drummer, 3 treble clef soaps (by http://www.schoolcornercrafts.com/), several tea bags of different flavors, and 1 each of prizes 12 through 3

One each of prizes 12 through 9 will be given to every winner. Prizes 12 through 5 will be mailed before Christmas. Prizes 4 through 1 will be mailed shortly after the New Year. Labels are mailing labels personalized with winner's name and address and theme of choice.

Winners will also be posted daily at http://www.myspace.com/lkhunsaker Please say in your email if you do not want your last name used!

Family members of LK Hunsaker or Elucidate Publishing staff are not eligible to win.

Good luck! Feel free to pass this email along to friends or post in any reader gathering spots.

LK Hunsaker
http://www.lkhunsaker.com/

Mel and Maks: as great as M&Ms

"Every ballet, whether or not successful artistically or with the public, has given me something important."
Mikhail Baryshnikov


Okay, Mel and Maks should've won last night. Really, they should have. Their technique was better. Mel was solidly good throughout the season, while as I loved Helio at the beginning, he kind of lost interest for me during mid season with a lack of versatility. He can move, granted. During certain routines he was wonderful. At other times, he was rather boring, but then Julianne is always incredible to watch and her routines are great. Maksim's routines are always a treat to watch.

That's what happens, though, when you open things to popular vote. You get personal opinion about personalities/backgrounds/careers interfering with the actual business of what is supposed to be judged. It happens with everything. I've seen writing contests judged by popular vote whose outcomes, predictably, show popularity, not writing quality. It happens in the business world of fiction. It happens in politics. Popularity sells better than quality.

So, I was completely unsurprised when Helio won. He's charming. He's a race car driver. He even admitted it was based largely on popularity.

In my mind, Mel was the true winner and I applaud her efforts and so enjoyed watching her and Maks together; not only for technical quality and versatility, but also for their fun chemistry that showed tons of respect for each other.

You don't have to have a trophy in hand to be a winner. Your efforts and the search for quality and pushing yourself make you a winner.

On that vein, CONGRATS to all who are pushing through with Nanowrimo for the next three days. Word count isn't important, either. The trying and pushing and learning makes you winners.

Now, how about having an author on Dancing With the Stars????

The Race For Words

Just before midnight last night, I was rushing to finish up an October newsletter so it would indeed be an October newsletter. My mind, however, kept drifting to the bottom corner of my monitor that told me Nanowrimo would be officially beginning in my time zone in a matter of minutes.

Why are some of us so excited about the month of writing 50,000 words when we know many times during the month that quest will become torture? Is it the adrenaline? The competition? Or the drive to be able to put up that "Nanowrimo Winner" logo at the end that makes us feel accomplished?

By the start of my fourth year of being a Wrimo, I believe it's not any of the above. Okay, maybe it's a bit of all of the above, but more than that, it's that we are very driven beings who appreciate the sacrifices that must be made for art and who know that art is worth the sacrifice, as is anything worth truly having. Without the sacrifice, without the personal effort to -- in the Army's words -- be all you can be, there isn't much meaning in anything that we have. It's the proving to ourselves that we can do it, that we care enough about our words to force them out when they don't want to come.

Our words are powerful, indeed. They are powerful to us and, as writers, we appreciate how powerful they can be to others. If you need to truly understand the power, take November to give it a try. You don't have to be a writer or want to be a writer, but to learn something you may not learn in any other way, join Nanowrimo and vow to write a story ... a 50,000 word story, in 30 days.

Don't worry about sentence structure or grammar or spelling. Don't be concerned if you don't know what to write. Take the plunge. Name a character. Put him, her, or it in a place. And see where that character takes you.

Writing an average of 1,667 words a day is much like walking a straight line after two days of not sleeping. You'll likely step off course now and then. You likely won't always be sure what you're writing or even how close you are to the line you're aiming to tread. But when you get to the end, you have more than 50,000 words. You have a lesson in passion, in determination, in mindset, and in sacrifice. You have a curious blend of art and power and creativity and control and lack of control. And you have something concrete to show for it. It may not be worth showing to anyone else in the world, and you don't need to. You don't even need to tell anyone you're doing it. But whatever you have, it's truly yours.

The race is on. Join as at Nanowrimo.org