I also examine how novel writing has changed over time. For example, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas was written in 1844. It’s about four swashbuckling heroes living in France. What quality does it have that made it endure all these years and be translated into many languages?
Recently I watched a movie titled Genius. It’s about the friendship between Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law), a man considered one of the greatest American authors and Max Perkins (Colin Firth), a famous editor known for being the editor of Hemmingway and Fitzgerald.
Wolfe’s first book was turned down by every other publisher in New York when he brought it to Charles Scribner’s Sons. The enormous manuscript made it to Perkins’ desk and he recognized Wolfe’s genius.
The manuscript was way too long with many pages of description so Perkins worked closely with Wolfe to edit his book which eventually took the title Look Homeward Angel. It was published in 1929 and received great reviews, validating the author.
Wolfe wrote another book, On Time and the River, and brought it into Perkins’ office in four boxes. (It was 5,000 pages long). The two men worked every night for over two years to edit the book.
The many hours spent on the book put a strain on Perkins’ marriage. He explained to his wife that an editor gets an author like Wolfe once in a lifetime. That’s saying a lot since he was also the editor for Hemmingway and Fitzgerald.
The story asked many questions like what makes a good novel? How important is a good editor to a novel? Does the editor make the book better or just change it? Was some of Wolfe’s genius lost in the edits?
I wonder if modern books suffer because traditional publishing houses can’t afford an editor who would spend as much time as Perkins did editing Wolfe’s book.
Wolfe dedicated the second novel to Perkins. Later he felt that too much credit for the success of the book went to Perkins and he changed publishing houses. Wolfe died young with only two books published at the time of his death. Two more books were published posthumously by another publisher.
Wolfe’s genius has been somewhat forgotten over time, yet his legacy is his books. He has influenced other writers like the well-known sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury.
What drives authors to write? In the movie, Wolfe and Perkins are walking along a road in New York City. It’s the depression and World War 2 is on the horizon. Wolfe sees people in a long food line and wonders about the value of writing.
Perkins replies that early mankind used to sit around the campfire at night and off in the distance they’d heard a wolf howl. Someone in the circle would begin to tell a story to hold back the fear.
All stories aren’t told or written to hold back the fear, but they are an intricate part of our lives and a way to help us understand and cope with an ever-changing world.
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Why is AI so controversial?
AI has been in the news a lot these days. At first, people were excited by all AI could do like write a poem or make up a joke in a matter of seconds or create an award-winning piece of artwork or photography. Some writers were excited because AI could come up with a fully developed character and make illustrations of them.
Then the concerns began coming in. Would Al take jobs away from writers, artists, musicians, and other types of workers? What is the impact of AI not being able to discriminate what is real from what is a conspiracy theory or an extreme point of view? What are the privacy concerns and ethical dilemmas?
Now there are lawsuits and petitions against the creators of AI for violating copyright laws.
All these things aside, what is the difference between an AI-produced creation and a human-produced creation? Is there a difference?
I think there is. Creative people paint, write and produce music from something inside them. A need to express themselves, to communicate, to share the beauty (or horrors) they see in the world, to understand the meaning of life, and to share what they’ve discovered or learned.
A creative idea can come from a dream, meditation, inspiration, or a childhood fantasy. J K Rowling said the idea for Harry Potter “fell into her head” while riding a train. Some of Stephen King’s ideas were inspired by nightmares. My own first book came from a series of dreams. A creative person may have worked on their books for years like J. R. R. Tolkien when writing Lord of the Rings.
People draw on their experiences to write a book or do other forms of artwork. AI doesn’t have original thoughts or emotions. It can’t transcend this world and rise above human consciousness. It doesn’t have a higher consciousness or soul.
In the science fiction world, writers have been exploring the idea of advanced computers for years. I, robot was a group of stories about robots by Isaac Asimov published in 1950. 2001: A Space Odyssey was a 1968 movie about a ship’s computer malfunctioning and working against the astronauts. In 1977 Star Wars came out with two beloved droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO. Many more movies and books have come out with robots, droids, and AI since then.
What do you think of AI? Are the benefits to society greater than the risks? Have you used one of the AI programs? If so what did you think of it? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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Steeped in blood. Ruled by those with dragons.
Healer’s Blade takes place in medieval England in the 11th century during William the Conqueror’s time. The novel is well-researched but deviates to alternative history by adding gunpowder and a tribe that didn’t exist.
What I enjoyed about this novel was how the main characters were all interconnected in unexpected ways. I also liked that none of the main characters were all good or bad. They were all complex and had suffered great losses from the horrors of Williams’s conquest and the following revolts.
The basic story is that William the Conqueror has taken over England, but rules as a tyrant. When he is out of the country, some of the nobles rebel against him.
Aliwayn, a young healer, is caught up in the middle of the revolt. She has every reason to hate King William but she sides with him in hopes of peace for England.
Toby is a knight rebel. He and Aliwayn’s paths cross again and again. They help each other while at the same time are hostile to each other as enemies on opposing sides of the revolt.
The book is fast-paced, especially in the first two-thirds. Aliwayn and Toby go from one life-threatening situation to another. Along the way, they are drawn to each other.
If you like speculative, alternate history books with a touch of romance, you’re sure to love this one.
Here is the blurb about the story.
In a country torn by war, can a young peasant woman change the fate of England?
1075 A.D., nine years after the Norman Conquest.
Eighteen-year-old healer Aliwyn lives in solitude after a series of medical failures leave her alienated from her village. With the rebellion against William the Conqueror rumbling on the horizon, she finds solace in the tranquility of her home.
But when her beloved arrives with the orphaned daughter of a Norman knight, Aliwyn is plunged into the bloody conflict she’s done her best to avoid. One daring escape from enemy arrows entangles her with the revolt’s charismatic young leader, Tobias, and Aliwyn finds herself swept into a dangerous world of rival factions and secret alliances. Faced with mercenaries and renegade knights, she must make difficult choices about treating those she despises.
After she uncovers the fiery secret underpinning the rebellion, Aliwyn is determined to take fate into her own hands and save England from sweeping destruction. Can she find the courage to fight for what she believes? And can she resist the magnetic charms of the man she has vowed to defeat?
Step into a riveting and magic-free YA fantasy adventure with an authentic historical setting and a dash of irresistible slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance. Set in a turbulent medieval England rocked by the early introduction of gunpowder and populated by Celtic-inspired forest tribes, Healer’s Blade is a page-turning read that’s perfect for fans of alternative history.
About the Author
Hailing from the unpredictable snowstorms of Quebec, Canada, Kyrie Wang’s a medical mystery detective (fancy words for “pathologist, MD”) by day and a dreamweaver of historical fantasy by night. Pencil on paper makes her cry and laugh, and every book she writes is living another life!
She has a PASSION for crafting stories that explore the humanity common to us all. Where people find their authentic selves, goodness prevails, and the forgotten and voiceless rise as heroes.
Somewhere between sleuthing with her microscope and crafting hamster toys with her daughter, Kyrie sits down and types. You’d never catch her without (quality dark) chocolate in her bag. She would bike in Canadian January to a froyo store.
Just ask her best friend of 11 years- she was the cashier!
Here is a trailer for Healer’s Blade.
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I’m excited that my new book Golden Cord of Light will be published as an ebook on July 18, 2023.
| The photo is from the “Art in Bloom” flower show at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. People made a flower arrangement to go with a piece of artwork they loved. |
| Spring is my favorite time of year. It is a time of rebirth and new beginnings. Here in Minnesota the crocuses and tulips are popping out of the ground and the leaves are reappearing on the trees. The days are longer and warmer, and the birds are returning from the south and building their nests. Soon we will see geese walking through the yard. The gander in front with goslings walking in a straight row behind him and the mother goose at the tail. My birthday is in the spring so for me it is the start of a new cycle. I like to reflect on the prior year and set goals for the new year. What is my mission for the new chapter in my life? The characters in my novels have big goals or missions such as saving their planet, fighting for freedom, or rescuing their loved ones. My goals are gentler and quieter. My spaceship is my Toyota nicknamed Yoda. My planet is Earth and I can only travel to the stars in my imagination. And the people in my life are humans not aliens from a distant planet. I teach a writing class and decided the theme for May would be Beyond Limitations. I’d just read “We are beings whose growth and splendor are beyond limitation.” Right after that, I sat down to have a cup of Ginger Yogi tea. The fortune on the tea bag was “The only thing that can limit you is believing that you are limited. Be limitless.” As I further reflected on this new year cycle, I began reading a different book about the never-ending journey to mastery. On this quest, we discover our true selves and the golden dream of our life’s work. I finished reading the chapter and went to my office to get a bookmark. I picked one up but had a nudge that it wasn’t the right one. I picked up another and as I went to put it in the book, I noticed there was a quote on it. The message was “What do you want to do with your own wild and precious life,” by Mary Oliver. Putting all this together, I’ve come up with a goal for this year. I will be limitless as I continue my journey as a writer to get out my life’s work while living my wild and precious life in a place of growth and splendor. I invite you during this season of rebirth to reflect on your journey in your wild and precious life and to be limitless during this next year. I’d love to hear your thoughts. What are your goals, dreams, and life’s work? I want to end this post with an uplifting quote by Mary Oliver, a wonderful American poet who won the Pulitzer Prize. “There were times over the years when life was not easy, but if you’re working a few hours a day and you’ve got a good book to read, and you can go outside to the beach and dig for clams, you’re okay.” |
In my last blog, I talked about what makes really good fiction writing. In this one, I’d like to talk about a famous fantasy author, J. K. Rowling. She did an interview with Oprah after she finished writing the last book in the Harry Potter series.
In the interview, Rowling talked about the success of the Harry Potter series being like the phenomenon of the Beatles. On her second tour of the US in New York people stood in long lines to see her at a book signing. When she walked in the door, they screamed and camera light bulbs flashed.
The series and movies made her so profitable that she became the first billionaire author.
For her next book, Rowling said she doesn’t feel like she has to do it all over again. No one expected a children’s book to leap to this kind of success. The first book in the series was rejected a dozen times before it was accepted for publication.
Rowling wanted to be a writer since she was five. The idea of the story of Harry Potter came to her when she was twenty-five riding on a bus. She had no pen to write down her ideas as they flooded in.
Every other page of the books were related to Rowling’s mother’s death. Rowling loved her mother and after she died, Rowling went into a deep depression. The dementors in the story came from her depression. The dementors had the ability to suck a person’s soul out through their mouth and drain their feelings of happiness.
Yet overall, the power of love is the thread that runs through all seven of the Harry Potter books. Love allowed Harry to live and have the help he needed to fight the dark forces.
In a Harvard speech, Rowling said it’s impossible to not have failure in your life and to use failure to gain success. Be willing to try. Rowling had nothing to lose writing Harry Potter. She was a single mother on welfare. We are all richer for Rowling’s success. She cultivated a love of reading in a whole generation of children. One fan said, “You were my childhood.”
When Oprah asked Rowling if she was going to keep writing, she said “I can’t stop writing. I need to do it.” I think that is the reason many people write or do any other creative activity. We write because that’s what we’re passionate about and love to do.
A friend of mine is a fine artist and she expressed the same sentiments. She said, “I paint because that is what I do.”
In conclusion, do what you’re passionate about to add more meaning to your life.
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| What Makes a really good book? Recently my husband brought home Peace Like a River by Leif Enger from a Little Free Library. It looked familiar and I opened it up and started reading it. I had only read a few paragraphs when I realized it was written by a really gifted writer. Curious, I went to Amazon where I saw that it was a best-selling novel with 2,649 ratings and had reviews from major newspapers. The San Francisco Chronicle said, “Peace like a River is a book that serves to remind us why we read fiction to begin with.” That got me thinking about what makes a good book. What qualities does a really good book have that draws you into the story world and keeps you there? What makes you want to spend time with the characters? What challenges and moral decisions does the character have to face? What universal theme is the author exploring? Peace Like a River is narrated by an eleven-year-old boy, Reuben, who is asthmatic and believes in miracles. The story is set in my home state of Minnesota and takes place in 1961. Reuben witnesses a terrible event that threatens to destroy his family. The writer shows the love between the family members and the events that lead up to tragedy when the oldest son takes the law into his own hands. I pondered the morality of what happened as I read the book. The father is a religious man, always reading from the Bible, and miracles surround him. It’s could be classified as religious, speculative fiction, or magical realism. Regardless of how the novel is classified, the writing is exceptional: lyrical and beautiful. Novels like this are why we read. We don’t read just to be entertained but to go on a journey with the characters. We see something we didn’t see before, experience things from someone else’s perspective, and gather our own conclusions about right and wrong. |
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