What’s Up Wednesday
It’s Wednesday, and I know I haven’t been very active on the blogging front lately, so I thought I’d participate in Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk‘s What’s Up Wednesday this week. The concept is simple: answer four questions related to what you’ve been up to this past week. If you want to join in, visit Jaime’s blog for details, and to see the list of other participants. Now, without further ado…
What I’m Reading
I’m currently reading THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER by Megan Shepherd. The novel is a continuation of H.G. Wells’s THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU, which I haven’t read, but I have an idea what it’s about. Megan’s book is from the perspective of Dr. Moreau’s daughter, who has been forced into a life of servitude and poverty as a result of her mother’s death, and her father’s disappearance when the nature of his experiments became public knowledge and brought scandal and shame on the family. Juliet winds up on the island to which her father fled, and is shocked by what she discovers.
This book had a lot of promise, especially given the premise, and the fact that it’s more of a YA sequel than fan fiction, or a re-telling, which gives it another interesting spin. However, so far I’ve been disappointed. I’m not connecting with any of the characters, there’s some clunky romance and love-triangle-type of thing going on which, at least to me, undermines the atmosphere of the story, and the writing comes across as a bit formulaic. In other words, it reads as if Megan has an interesting story idea that she’s trying to fit into a particular mold or style that she thinks is YA. I doubt Megan would say that’s what she did, but that’s the way it reads. As I understand it, genre is the category into which your finished story goes, not the framework into which you try to fit your story idea. Something I need to remember. This book is the first of a trilogy, and right now I don’t know that I’d want to read beyond this one.
What I’m Writing
One of the things I’ve been chewing over with my WIP is motivation. I talked about this some in the last What’s Up Wednesday I did back at the end of May. As I’ve been revising and re-reading my first draft, while there are many elements of the story I like, I need to have a more compelling motivation for the whole adventure. What I had was okay, and I re-wrote the beginning to make it better, but I still wasn’t happy. I’m pleased to report that I think I’ve come up with something even better that is both consistent with my MC’s character, and works well in the story. I know I’m being vague, but I don’t want to give too much away. I want to keep you in suspense so when I put a call out for beta readers, you’ll all be so intrigued you’ll want to sign up…
What Inspires Me Right Now
The kind of thoughts that inspire me at the moment are along the lines of: “What can I learn from THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER, and what I consider to be its weaknesses?” Also, Marissa Meyer posted the first chapter of the next novel in the Lunar Chronicles series, CRESS, which comes out next year. I don’t know what kind of awesome sauce that girl drinks, but I was hooked. I want my novel to be as compelling as that. Either I need to find her awesome sauce supplier, or I need to pay careful attention to how that chapter is written and see if I can pick up some pointers.
What Else I’ve Been Up To
FourthBorn turned thirteen this past week, which means we have four teenagers in the house now. Surprisingly, my hair isn’t falling out any quicker than usual. In fact, I consider myself to be particularly blessed to have the kids I have.
Also, I’ve been having fun with music and video editing. Long-time readers will know I’m a bit of a British Singles Chart geek, and also quite nostalgic when it comes to the music of my youth–especially music from the late 70s and early 80s, a period close to my heart. So I compiled a 12-minute video of the top 20 singles in the UK charts this week (i.e., the week of July 1st) in 1978. I might make this a sort-of-regular feature. Maybe even take requests for weeks and years to do. Anyway, enjoy!
What’s up with you this week?
Hi Colin, What’s up Wednesday seems fun, I might give it a go. Congratulations on making the breakthrough on your WIP, it’s always nice when you work out how to take the early draft forward. Where’s the sign up sheet for beta readers???
Thanks, Rachael! The sign up sheet for beta readers? You just started it! Thanks for offering. Hopefully it won’t be too long before the WIP is ready for others to read. 🙂
I’m already intrigued to want to beta. I love when you figure out that thing to help propel your story, such an amazing & calming feeling.
Wow, thanks Patrice! I really hope this idea works out as well as I think it will–getting the beginning right, and establishing character motivation is SO important. I’ve seen that to be true not only in what I write, but in the novels I’ve read recently, too.
I wanted to connect with THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER a little more than I did, but there were things that I didn’t love, namely the love triangle. Which is saying something, because I actually don’t mind love triangles one bit. That said, I’ll definitely read the sequel. From what I understand, it’s set in London again and is a retelling of THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. That should be fun!
Congrats on the writing breakthrough! I know just how frustrating it can be when you know what you want out of the story, but you can’t pinpoint how to get there, what to do with it. I’m there right now with my revision on my YA sci-fi. Can’t wait to eventually hear more about this story. 🙂
I think one of the things that creates character dissonance for me is the way Juliet responds to feelings of attraction. Given the personality Megan established for her in the initial chapters, her reactions to her feelings seem out of character. I expect her to be more analytical, and a bit more detached (like her father?). This would be one story where, I think, any romance would be subtle, and such feelings understated by the narrator. I’m not advocating the elimination of all romance from the story, just a better handling of it.
A re-telling of JEKYLL AND HYDE could indeed be interesting. I hate to say it because it sounds harsh, but I don’t know that I’m enjoying Megan’s style enough to want to try it. We’ll see. Maybe some positive reviews from my blog friends (*ahem*) might convince me. 🙂
I’ve probably said it before, but the fact that people say how intrigued they are by my WIP really helps motivate me to get on with revising. Thanks! 😀
Despite the 70s predating my existence, I knew a few of those songs. Awesome music. Thanks for sharing… although I’m totally blaming you if I’m up half the night singing Rivers of Babylon.
Happy Birthday to your daughter too.
Good luck getting to the beta reader stage. Thanks for keeping us all in suspense. I’m definitely curious 😀
Yes, Cole–I’m old! 😉 But I’m glad you enjoyed the music. Perhaps I’ll do a Top Twenty week that’s… um… more within your lifetime. 🙂
The “Beta Reader Stage” still looks like a distant hope, but with all this encouragement, I know I’ll get there. I’ll add your name to the “curious” list. 🙂
I try to do that as well…learn from something I’m reading and either love…or hate. Why does it work (or why doesn’t it work), and how can I use this in my own writing? Reading is a school all on its own, isn’t it?
Thanks for the great post!
Thank you, Heidi! I figure most books have had to go through some kind of review process to get published. At the very least, an agent and an editor have seen it. And while they’re all human and can miss things, and not everyone shares my tastes, there must be some reason a manuscript ends up as a published novel. So while I’m trying to learn from what I don’t like about a novel, I’m also looking for that redeeming factor–what is it about the book I think caught the agent/publisher’s eye? Sometimes it’s clear; other times, not so. But I definitely believe that, for a writer, every novel you read should be a learning experience (as well as fun). 🙂
Beta readers? Me! Me! Me! Over here! No, HERE!! 😀
Ummm… sorry? Did you say something? 😉
Yes, okay… I’ll put you on the list. 😀
When the call goes out for beta readers, I’m sure I’ll answer it. 🙂 Four teenagers… wow. That must make for an interesting life! 😀
Thanks, Emma! 🙂 Yes–never a dull moment here… 😉
My reaction to THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER was quite a bit different than yours. I’d have to say it’s one of the better YA books I’ve read in 2013. My only small issue with it was that the mc did flip flop a little too much between the two love interests. Other than that, I thought it was a very strong debut, and it kept me hooked through the whole book. I had my suspicions about some of the mysteries she worked into the story, but she managed to surprised me with one of the bigger twists. I thought the setting and atmosphere were really well done too. I would have devoured this book when I was a teen. To each his own, I suppose.
I’m glad to hear you’re making progress with your WIP. Having a strong motivation for your story really is the basis for the entire thing, so it’s great that you’ve taken the time to put a lot of thought into that. Best of luck with the writing!
To each his/her own, indeed, Erin. I could hold out hope that I’ll end up loving it when I’m finished, but since a lot of my issues are with the style, I’m not sure that’ll happen. But who knows. I’m going to finish it and give Megan every opportunity to change my mind. 🙂
Thanks for the well-wishes! 🙂
I read the first chapter of CRESS, and I am so excited for it! I blame you, Colin. My current pining for the next book is 100% your fault for recommending the series so highly. Why can’t you recommend something that I don’t have to wait for? 😉
I remember when our family started having four teenagers in the house. The biggest difficulty was probably scheduling bathroom time, especially since I have four sisters. 🙂
And I’m so glad you’re working things out with your WIP. I’m still trying to set up the proper motivation for mine, so my rewrite won’t flounder like the first draft did. o.0
I hope you have a great writing week!
I’m sorry, Rae. You know, there’s this series of books called “Harry Potter” you might enjoy… 😉
Of the four that are teens, three are girls, so I know what you mean. My two youngest are also girls, so we’ll be living with bathroom issues for a while. 🙂
Thanks, Rae. 🙂
OHMYGOSH – FOUR teenagers?! You are a SAINT.
And I hope THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER gets better for you. I really enjoyed that book and am looking forward to reading more.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Thanks, Alison! The kids can be a challenge at times, but they’re good kids–and that helps a lot! 🙂
THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER is on my TBR-list. I’m always down for some classic retellings! Although I read one the other month (disliked it so much can’t even remember the name) that had some of the same issues with clunky romance. I love me some romance in a book, but not when it feels forced and when it takes away from what could have been a cool story.
Like I said, this is just how the book is striking me. You can see from some of the other comments that others loved it. One of the things that caught my interest is the fact that it’s not a re-telling, but more of a sequel from Dr. Moreau’s teenage daughter’s POV. It’s not a bad book, but there are aspects about it (such as the romance) that annoy me, and the style is not to my taste. Clearly, industry professionals who are better read than me liked it enough to publish it, so my opinion is by no means the final word (or even the penultimate word!). 🙂
Hi Colin! I have not read THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER yet… I’ve heard so many mixed reviews about it.
Blue Oyster Cult – saw them 12 years ago at an outdoor concert called Hairball with a Styx cover band, Great White, Warrant, Jackyl, and David Lee Roth as headliner. I remember lying back on the grass in the shade, chillin’, listening to Don’t Fear the Reaper. Good times. I really enjoyed your video – that was the summer before Kindergarten. Some of the artists I’ve never heard of, I admit. What’s up with the Smurf song?!?
Thank you, Sara–I’m glad you enjoyed the video. I might do more, so it’s good to know someone else liked it! Even cooler that it brought back memories for you. 🙂
The Smurfs. What can I say? They were the “in” thing with kids in the UK–the “Harry Potter” of that time. Shops sold Smurf plushies, Smurf pajamas, Smurf underwear… you could collect little plastic Smurf in various costumes and poses… so it’s no wonder the Smurf Song did so well in the UK charts. They never made it to number one, but I believe the Smurf Song holds some kind of record for staying at number 2 the longest. They might have made it to number one if it weren’t for the “Grease” phenomenon that exploded among teens and adults in the Summer of 1978. 🙂
FOUR teens in the house? Oh, Colin, may the Gods be ever in your favor, for sure!!! Although, they’re all in your writing wheelhouse, right? You’ve got four built in beta-readers!
And that’s a bummer about THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER. It’s been on my TBR list and I was looking forward to reading it…but you’ve pointed out some great feedback. I do hope it gets better.
Best of luck in finding that motivation for your WiP, too – when you least expect it, that’s when it will strike and you’ll know you’ve found it! I hope it comes sooner than later.
Wishing you a wonderful Friday / weekend! Good luck with your writing goals, too!
Ha ha! I might make use of the older kids for beta reading, especially for the YA stories. I’m sure they help indirectly, too–giving me a first-hand reminder of how teens think. 🙂
THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER isn’t a bad book overall, and as I’m reading it, it’s either getting better, or I’m getting used to it. Still not the best, and still not what I hoped or expected–but as I said, others love it, so this is just my current thinking.
Thanks for the well-wishes, Erin! 🙂
I didn’t like The Madman’s Daughter either. A total disappointment, not just with too much focus on the love triangle but the fact that it was simply a rehash of the original plot. I’ve read The Island of Dr Moreau and I felt I was reading the same story again with the addition of a daughter and the aging down of Edward and Montgomery. I can’t say any more without spoiling the ending of Dr Moreau but this book definitely couldn’t be a follow up/sequel after what happens on the island from the original story.
That’s an interesting observation, Robin. I haven’t read the Wells original, so I’m not coming at it from that perspective. It’ll be interesting for me to read the original and see if I come to the same conclusion. I’ll let you know… 🙂
I’d not heard of The Island of Dr Moreau before, but after Wikipedia-ing it, I don’t think it appeals to me that much. I don’t suppose the ‘sequel’ would either! I do like the top 20 songs, though, even if I know have ‘Ca plane pour moi’ stuck in my head once again. Happy writing! 🙂
I’d be inclined to read the original simply because I like H.G. Wells. It’ll be interesting to compare the two.
Yay! Another like for the video. Maybe I’ll post another next week… 🙂 And I remember very clearly Plastic Bertrand being popular. The hook of that song was the “oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo” bit, since most people in the UK who bought the record didn’t understand a single word of the French. 😉
Thanks, Anna! 😀