Anne Osterlund's Blog, page 14

You may be wondering why Aerin, the main character in my most recently published book, Academy 7, hasn't said anything. This is because getting Aerin to talk is like pulling teeth. (You should ask Dane. He knows).

People talk to Aerin. And she thinks back.

Working with a traumatized character can be tough. I didn't know about this when I started Academy 7.

As a reader, I love the dramatic scenes. Go ahead! Drop your characters off the side of a castle. Stick them in the middle of a raging...

Yesterday was a 3:00 a.m. day. As in I was up until 3:00 a.m. finishing the second draft of the climax for Salvation (Salva & Beth are OK with this, especially as it was Aurelia's fault since I received my first ARCs for Exile and stayed up until 5:00 a.m. the night before reading one).

Blogging, however, did not happen. Or walking. Or paying bills. Or lawn-mowing. Yeah, yeah, you don't care.

But as recompense, I have a treat for this morning. Christine posted my most recent interview on her...

Beth, one of the main characters in Salvation, the book I am writing now, likes blueberry lemonade. I learned this yesterday. Discovery is one of the things I love the most about writing. Every day, every revision, there are discoveries.

I didn't know there was such a thing as blueberry lemonade. But here was the problem. Beth said that plain lemonade was too ordinary. She is not ordinary.

And she couldn't have strawberry lemonade because she was going to have strawberry shortcake. And you...

Well, it is 11:26 p.m., and obviously I don't have time to blog today. But I do have news.

Salva went home! It wasn't pretty. And it required a great deal of help from Beth, as well as a little divine intervention, but he made it.

Anne

While we are at Powell's, we should make The List.

The List is plausibly the most enjoyable part about book shopping.

It's a bit like picking Barbies. When I was little, my sister, friends, and I would take all our Barbie stuff—all our Barbie stuff—throw it onto a bed, and pick. One item at a time, from the huge Barbie pool down to the ugliest hand-knitted Barbie sweater. Ostensibly with the idea that the stuff we chose was what we were going to use when we began to play. Picking took at least ...

Let's take a trip.

If you have never been to Powell's Bookstore on Burnside in Portland, the best way I can describe it for you is to compare it to chocolate chip mint cheesecake. Absolutely out of this world.

Powell's is a block. A complete city block. And on top of that, it has at least three stories. Filled with new and used books.

Within this incredible structure lies The Rose Room. This is heaven on earth for fans of young adult literature. At least 7 rows. Seven high, long rows of young ad...

Salva does not want to go home. Salva (aka Salvador) is the main character in the book I am working on now, Salvation, and he does not want to go home. Which is where I need him to go. For various reasons. But . . . did I mention he does not want to go?

Apparently this is not a unique phenomenon. When I had the opportunity of hearing Tamora Pierce speak at the Sirens: Women in Fantasy Literature Conference last fall, she talked about how Evy refused to go to the palace. Somewhere about thirteen chapters later, Evy finally went.

So what do authors do when a character refuses to go where we need them to go?

There are several approaches.

First, there is listening. Nine times out of ten, I would say that listening is successful. Once you find out why your character has issues, you can usually find your way around them.

This did not work with Salva.

Next there is detouring. Detouring usually involves more effort. It requires an extra scene or an extra chapter or two in order to help the character get whatever issues he or she has out of the way.

This also has not worked with Salva. He needs to go home. So he can be yelled at. And he doesn’t want to.

Sometimes there is bowing to your characters’ wishes. “OK,” you say to them. “We won’t go there. We’ll go here instead.” And they cheer up and follow blithely along and you zip them back into your plotline via a circuitous route.

This also will not work with Salva. It is imperative that he go home.

Which brings me to the last option. You tell the character to suck it up and just go where you want them to go.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, this will not work. I’m not sure it would ever work with Aurelia. But Salva is being a coward, and Beth and I agree that he should just go home.

So we’re sending him.

anneosterlund.blogspot.com

Salva does not want to go home. Salva (aka Salvador) is the main character in the book I am working on now, Salvation, and he does not want to go home. Which is where I need him to go. For various reasons. But . . . did I mention he does not want to go?



Apparently this is not a unique phenomenon. When I had the opportunity of hearing Tamora Pierce speak at the Sirens: Women in Fantasy Literature Conference last fall, she talked about how Evy refused to go to the palace. Somewhere about...

To Blog or Not to Blog

Aurelia thinks I need to begin a blog. A real one. If you aren't acquainted with Aurelia, you should know she is the main character in two of my books, thus far. She was raised to be a crown princess, and no doubt, this is partly responsible for the fact that she is A. stubborn, B. opinionated, and C. very LOUD. I find her rather difficult to ignore. This is how our conversation went.

Aurelia: You need to begin a blog.
Me: What?
Aurelia: Don't be obtuse. My next book is...

Aurelia thinks I need to begin a blog. A real one. If you aren’t acquainted with Aurelia, you should know she is the main character in two of my books. She was raised to be a crown princess, and no doubt, this is partly responsible for the fact that she is A. stubborn, B. opinionated, and C. very LOUD. I find her rather difficult to ignore. This is how our conversation went.

Aurelia: You need to begin a blog.

Me: What?

Aurelia: Don’t be obtuse. My next book is coming out in April, and you want it to be successful, don’t you?

Me: Of course. But I don’t have time to blog. Why don’t you do it?

Aurelia: I’m busy rescuing a country. You are NOT that busy.

Me: I teach school. I had 29 students last year. I wake up at 4:50 a.m. and don’t get home until around six. Every day I have off from teaching, I write. You know that.

Aurelia: You’re whining.

Me: Aerin and Dane did not insist I blog.

Aurelia: They want you to write one too.

Me: Great. And exactly what am I supposed to blog about? I can’t blog about what I’m writing today. That would give away the story. And I can’t blog about school. That would infringe on my students’ privacy.

Aurelia: Duh. You’re an author. Blog about books.

Me: OK, well, I admit I could talk forever about books.

Aurelia: That’s what I thought. And you can blog about writing. Just don’t give anything away.

Me: You say this because I’m not writing one of YOUR stories right now.

Aurelia: Salva and Beth want you to blog too.

Me: OK, OK, I will try to blog.

Aurelia: Good. Glad that’s settled. Moving on . . .