To-Do-List Disaster

.

.

This is just a quick post to 1) apologize for being so long between posts, and 2) to observe that "write the book" wrecks havoc with a To-Do-List. Everything gets pushed off the list until "after"--and that after can be a Very Long Time.

I'm closing in on the final second draft (officially draft 2.3). Soon I'll send it off to one of the editors I work with—the amazing Dan Smetanka—and then I'll dive into all the other things on my To Do List, which includes: organizing a research trip to France in May, getting my Facebook readers going on the Google Lit Trip project again, and trying to get out a newsletter.

All this in addition to the not-so-minor task of closing up my Mexico office and moving it up north! I've over two weeks, but I'm already suffering book anxiety: which to take back, which to leave behind.

But first: the final, final, final changes to Draft 2.3...

Note: the illustration above is from the New York Public Library, as posted on Of Goose Quills, Gloves, and Writing Booths—"A Succinct Survey of Authors' Accessories and Accoutrements"—on one of my favorite blogs, A Journey Round My Skull.

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Come on board our Google Lit Trip!

.

.

I've been excited about the Google Lit Trip developing on my Facebook Page for The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. We now have basic instructions and a streadsheet for collecting the data. Once that is done, we'll create a Google Lit Trip map for the book that will be of educational use to students in High School and University classes.

We have a good core team, but we need more hands on deck, so if you are at all interested, or simply curious, please join in. You can take on as much or as little as you please.

Check it out!

Our Google Lit Trip Discussion Groups:
http://www.facebook.com/board.php?uid=6284613175

What's a Google Lit Trip?
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6284613175&topic=13270

Anyone interested, just join in. It's the first time a Lit Trip has been made by a Facebook team, so we're all of us learning as we go. Plus, it's fun. All you need is a copy of The Many Lives & Secret Sorrow of Josephine B.

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Book cover design in 55 seconds (NOT!)

.

.

Click HERE for a wonderful short video on the process of designing a book cover. (I love the cover!)

On YouTube: http://bit.ly/BookCoverDesign
Blog on the design process: http://bit.ly/BookCoverDesignBlog


*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Street vendor wanted

.

.

A street vendor plays a part in the novel I'm writing, but I haven't settled on what that something might have been in 17th century Paris. A quick Google search reveals street vendors of:

penny ices
blank verses
kindling wood
ink
neckties
yams
straw
oranges
grilled chicken
boot laces

I have yet to find what I'm looking for. I'd like it to be something tasty, so for now I may settle on yams.

Suggestions welcome!

Barbara Kingsolver: Turning on the lights

.

.

I have piles of notes from my weekend at the wonderful San Miguel Writers' Conference. Very briefly, from Barbara Kingsolver's keynote address on how The Lacuna evolved:

1. She first asked: what are the big questions? 
2. She wrote pages and pages on what the novel would be about.
3. As she was doing this, scenes begin to "pop up" and characters appeared.
4. She asked: Who will tell the story? To find the voice, she did a lot of practice-writing.
5. She started, but in bits, not chronologically.
6. Then, when she could see the shape of it, she felt ready to start a proper draft. From this point on (she made it very clear), she was in control — of the story, and of the characters.
7. During all this time she was doing research.

The first draft, she said, was like "hoeing a row of corn." It hurt, like giving birth.

Revision is "where the art happens," making everything fit, "pulling the meaning up." (Again, beautiful.)

Her husband is her first reader, then trusted others.

A problem with early drafts is failing to visualize scenes. She goes through the manuscript, "turning on the lights." (I love this image as well.)

She likes to hold a balance between mystery and revelation —but tends, she confessed, to mystery.

She quoted Chagall: "Great art begins where life leaves off."

I wanted to know more about her work at the sentence level. It is, no doubt, intense. She uses a thesaurus constantly (which interested me).

Right now, I'm reading through the second draft of The Next Novel,  editing it. With each pass, I get closer to the meaning. Soon, I'll be going through the scenes, "turning on the lights."

Rules for writing fiction, from writers and one reader

.

.

The UK Guardian recently asked a number of well-known novelists to give their top tips for writing fiction. The results range from the quirky to the deadly serious. Wonderful!

In response, Laura Miller at Salon.com, posted her list of what she, as a reader, advises writers of fiction. Excellent, and to the point.

Links:
The Guardian survey: http://bit.ly/10rulesforwriting
Laura Miller's article at Salon.com: http://bit.ly/bTKS7J

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Google Lit Trip: student guides wanted!

.

.

I just found out about Google Lit Trip and suddenly I'm thinking (with a bit of fatigue, I confess) that I could make a "Lit Trip" for each of my books.

I already have a Google map for all the places mentioned in Mistress of the Sun. It probably wouldn't take too much to turn it into a Lit Trip.

My imagination takes off: embedded photos, both old and new. Passages from the novel. Travel notes!

It's meant to be a great tool for educators — and it is, clearly — but I think the general reader would enjoy it as well. 

Sigh! I have a novel to write. I'm hoping perhaps some students will take this on. There are several wonderful student-created Lit Trips on the Google site. One of my young readers created a website for Mistress of the Sun as part of a computer class. Imagine an English or History teacher assigning the creation of a Google Lit Map of a historical novel ... mine, for example. I'd be delighted to help.

Link for Google Lit Trips:
http://www.googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/Downloads_etc..html

Link for the Google map of Mistress of the Sun:
http://bit.ly/MistressoftheSunMap

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Writers' conference high

.

.

This is going to be a short post, because I've had a long and very stimulating day at the San Miguel Writers' Conference, and another one tomorrow to come.

Tonight, at Barbara Kingsolver's speech (fantastic!!!), I sat next to a young woman, who told me that she had young children at home in L.A. She was working on a novel, and this was her first time away.

"It's an important step," I told her, remembering the first writers' conference I had gone to in Kingston, Ontario, the kids at home in the care of my hard-working husband. She was making an "investment" (of both time and money) in her desire to be a writer. "You are proclaiming your serious intention to the world."

Kingsolver's speech had us both in awe. When it was over, and everyone was standing, gathering their belongings, the young woman was busy, feverishly writing down Kingsolver's wisdoms. "I am a writer," she explained to the man sitting next to her.

Following her out through the throngs (of over 800 people!), I thought: Yes, and she's going to be a good one.


*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Bookplate fun!

.

.

Readers write asking for signed bookplates, and I've long been meaning to make something special. I'm pleased with this one!

To make it, I scanned an old bookplate image, cleaned it up with Photoshop and printed it out on a 4x6 self-stick label.

For a signed bookmark, readers may email me through the contacts link on my blog:

http://sandragulland.com/contacts/index.html

Charting the writing process

.

.

I love this chart on the writing process, posted by Sarah Eve Kelly on Twitter:

Right now, I'm making the editorial changes I scribbled onto the 1st draft a few weeks ago. It's a tedious mechanical process, but it suits me right now: lots to do, lots coming up, a persistent cold (life!).

Books: Miss you already

.

.

I'm already feeling nostalgic about books, now that the ebook is so fully upon us. When reading, I often pause, and regard the book itself: the lovely ragged edges, the cover, the author photo. I love a book-lined room, love glancing over the books on my shelves, reveling in the memories that the books evoke. I love book clutter. And now I'm loving all this even more, with advance-longing against a time when all this might change.

Consider all the social aspects that have to do with books! When I love a book, I look forward to loaning it to friends. How will I get to know someone if I can't browse the books on their shelves? How will I know what people in lines, on airplanes, beaches, buses and subways are reading, if I can't see the cover? (Yes, I'm a snoop.)

I know, however, that I will love my ebook reader, once I take the plunge.

In defense, I tell myself that the time has come. We can't squander trees endlessly in the production of paper. I tell myself: the book will become more of an art-object, a treasure.

But already, facing a quickly-approaching future, I'm longing for the age that was, the age of books.

Dear Reader: a letter

.

.

I've been organizing my computer files, and in the process found a letter I sent to the two book clubs that critiqued the "final" draft of The Last Great Dance on Earth. I was surprised to learn that I cut 100 pages from Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe after a book club critique.

That's a lot, but it seems to be what I do. I cut so much from The Last Great Dance on Earth I sent it back to my publisher in a larger type size, hoping my editor wouldn't notice. I cut quite a bit from Mistress of the Sun -- an entire chapter and then some -- at the last minute.

Here is the letter, should it be of interest. (Warning: it's long.)

Dear Readers,

First, thank you for doing this. This is the second draft of The Last Great Dance on Earth;  there will be two more before it goes to my publisher, and then it will be edited and revised yet again. What you see here will no doubt change greatly—as many as 100 pages are apt to be cut, as many likely to be added.

The manuscript has not been edited for spelling and punctuation, so expect errors. However, at this stage, the true problems are much, much bigger, and much more difficult to remedy. Let's call it a reluctance to fly, to get off the ground. Let's call it a plane without wings. With each draft, I try to get that plane up in the air more often—and to get it to stay up longer. By the final draft, I want it to be a jet that takes the reader not only to France, but to the 18th century. No crashes!

Symptoms: You look at the clock. You put the book down. You sigh and thumb to the back: how many more pages? Then oh oh, you're up in the air: it could be midnight, but you don't care! The story has swept you away. And then … woops, another crash.

Why? And where? What parts carried you along and what parts were a bit of a trudge? That's what I need to know. What breaks the momentum? Plot structure (or a lack of it)? Characters you either don't believe or don't like (or both)? No narrative drive? ("Where is this going? What's the point?") Lots of things.

Before you begin, I should warn you that I think the opening chapters are not yet right. (And much more, of course—but especially the opening.) I think most novelists spend half their time on those opening chapters and even then, few are successful. Does this opening work, for you? If it did, what did you like? If not, how could it be better? Was it confusing? Is there another place you think the story could open?

Another problem, too, is that often it lacks a sense of place: this is one of the reasons for my research trip to Europe in September. Also, I've not put a great deal of thought into the details that make a story come to life: I want to have the storyline right before I do this.

Some general questions:

Which characters failed to hold your interest? Which ones came to life for you? What actions seemed suspect, unbelievable.

When did the story fail to convince you? When did you stop believing it? And what parts did you believe? Did it make you cry? Laugh? Forget about dinner? Knowing what works is as important to me as knowing what does not.

Again, thank you VERY much.  I want this novel to be wonderful—but before that can "happen," I need to find out its strengths and, most especially, its weaknesses. Be sure to tape your conversation. If you write down your thoughts, I would very much appreciate it. If you mark up the manuscript (please do!), it would be helpful to me to see it. (I could return it to you, if you wish.)

In closing, please don't be concerned if you only have negative things to say about this book. The book club that reviewed Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe hated it. I took out 100 pages, reworked it feverishly, and as a result it was short-listed for the Trillium. Criticism at this stage helps very much. (But a little praise helps too!)

Sincerely, 

Sandra Gulland

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

On figuring out characters: What's Wig-Girl doing here?!

.

.

My husband and I have been at the beach for a week. Every morning I have been reading and editing the first draft of The Next Novel. Some days I was pleased, other days the verdict was more "Hummm." The last pages, which I read yesterday, made me shed a few tears (always a good sign). All in all, I think it's a good first draft, and I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and dig in.

There is one character (Wig-Girl) who puzzles me, an invented character I haven't figured out yet. (Most of the other characters in the novel are based in history.) She popped into the story early on. I like her, but I'm not sure what she's doing there. While writing the first draft, I kept trying her out in various roles: as a maid to the dying mother, as a romantic interest of the heroine's brother. None of these really worked, and so I'll cut those scenes, but it was amusing (and surprising!) to see her pop up and then disappear, only to pop up yet again in another guise entirely. It's as if I was auditioning her, trying her out.

Today I'll have another look at my character notes, and especially at the notes I took from Christopher Vogler's wonderful book, The Writer's Journey, on the basic characters that are typically part of any story. (I've put my notes on Docs, here — or here, at: http://bit.ly/5uqIA7.)

How does Wig-Girl fit in? What's her role? I've never followed Vogler's template closely, but I do love it, and I find it helps clarify characters and their purpose, their function in the story. It's one of my favorite books on writing.

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

How to promote your book (without giving up writing)

.

.

Stephanie Cowell, a wonderful novelist (click here to see her titles), wrote to me this morning:

I keep up my website and blog there, keep up my art web site, keep up my Amazon page, twitter, Facebook, reconstructing mailing list (!), answering many lovely e-mails….  What else do you do? I am afraid if I try much more I will not be able to submit my next book for hopefully a contract late winter. I’d appreciate advice. I also have not scheduled many in person signings. This is all so much more complicated than publishing a book several years ago!

This is such a big problem now. Writers have to invest both time and money in self-promotion, which robs time away from what's truly important: writing. 

How does one juggle so many balls? I suggesed to Stephanie that she try to get as much mileage out of what she was already doing (which is a lot). This is what I wrote to her:

Do you use Ping.fm or HootSuite.com? You set these up to automatically post your blogs to Twitter, Amazon and Facebook. (Note: my current favorite is HootSuite.)

Google Alerts are good for finding out whenever your book is mentioned on-line. Then you can leave a personal note, if it seems appropriate. The same for Twitter. Through a TweetDeck search, for example, I know whenever my novels are mentioned, and can respond. 

I’ve been making a point of including my on-line connections whenever I post to a blog or list. (See below. I don’t usually include a picture unless it’s an email — HMTL can be tricky on some sites.)

For answering fan mail, save time by creating a form-letter answer in signatures that’s easy to make personal. (A note on answering fan mail — some authors create an assistant identity to answer their mail. There’s an advantage to this: you can toot your own horn.)

Ultimately, a newsletter is important, so building up a database is crucial.



If you have a Facebook page (“fan page”), you can send out ads really, really cheap. It’s a lot of exposure for very little time and money.

Signings/readings do very little, in fact. So few people come! The main advantage is that it gets promotion. (I used to work this very hard, sending out posters, contacting the local media, etc.) Also, every reading you give is practice for the next one — every writer is an entertainer in training. And face-to-face reader contacts are wonderful, of course (the best).

There’s YouTube, as well — I use a little Flip video to record a reading or interview. These are good to put on your website and blog.

Book clubs are wonderful but hard to get to. I’ve been looking into Skype chats. (I still can’t figure out how best to reach book clubs, however.)

Book trailers are either time-consuming or expensive, but seem to be more and more important. (Are we to become film-makers, as well?)

I'd love to hear from readers of this blog: any other ideas? 

*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Letters from readers

.

.

The New Year has been a bit challenging so far, but my angels must be looking over me because I've been getting some of the most moving emails and comments from readers. I quote snippets from two of the emails here (without names):

 I am 12 years old. When I was 11, I read your Josephine Bonaparte series, and it changed my life.

I devour your writing and I am sad when I finish one of your books. I need more! ... Thank you for sharing your gift.

Humbly, I thank you. So much! A writer works in isolation; it means a lot to hear from readers.


*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland/

Editing sings the blues

.

.

For writers in the throes of revision, this is a wonderful You Tube author video.

(Thanks to the Twitter suggestion of writer Ami McKay.)

On rust and viral attacks, virtual and otherwise

.

.

It's amazing how quickly writing gears rust: over-night! I've been on holiday, sick (for weeks!), dealing with serious computer problems, and now only gradually emerging out of the I-will-never-be-able-to-write-again-despair that so quickly sets in.

I begin by making visible piles: the manuscript to be read, the untouched notebook in which to record daily progress, files of notes, my favorite pencils.

I also begin by getting things fixed: me, first (yet a work in progress). My computer glasses, limping along on one leg, were finally repaired yesterday. My email database program ... well, we might — might — be getting there.

The biggest disadvantage with using Microsoft Entourage is that everything — everything! — is stored in one huge database: all contacts with notes and categories attached, all calendar items, all email, past and present. (A life in letters!) When that database gets damaged, game over. And mine is damaged.

(And, I now discover, wading through impossible-to-understand papers written by techs: twice the size Entourage is prepared to handle. Could the program not have informed me?)

Fortnately, I'm a back-up fanatic: I use TimeMachine, plus an on-line automatic back-up (CrashPlan), plus SuperDuper, a back-up to a separate drive. (Plus, when I'm writing, I email myself the draft I'm working on every day. But that's another story — and possibly one reason the database is fat?)

Sound extreme? Consider this: the TimeMachine back-up of my database is not really any good (why I don't know). CrashPlan's on-line back-up is current, and so its copy of the file I need is of the damaged database. Don't want that, thank you very much! And so, my hopes lie with back-up #3: SuperDuper.

Through Google I found Entourage help on-line. The first issue seems to be an over-crowded hard drive. I used Disk Inventory X to find out what the disk-hogs were, and tossed them out. Right now I'm using iDefrag to defragment the drive. I feel leaner and meaner already. If only I could Defrag my brain.

Jane Austen: "I must keep to my own style"

.

.

This is a charming letter, written by Jane Austen, April 1, 1816:

You are very, very kind in your hints as to the sort of Composition which might recommend me at present, & I am fully sensible than an Historical Romance, founded on the House of Saxe Coburg might be much more to the purpose of Profit or Popularity, than such pictures of domestic Life in Country Villages as I deal in--but I could no more write a Romance than an Epic Poem.--I could not sit seriously down to write a serious Romance under any other motive than to save my Life, & if it were indispensable for me to keep it up & never relax into laughing at myself or other people, I am sure I should be hung before I had finished the first Chapter.--No--I must keep to my own style & go on in my own Way ...

Which confirms, to me, that Jane Austen was a comic writer above all else.

(The quote is from Jane Austin Today.)

Renewal

.

.

I've been absent, both on holiday and down with a nasty cold. (Don't feel too sorry for me: I'm in Buenos Aires, after all.) I'm just going to post some blog links.

First, I'm honored that Mistress of the Sun was included in Margaret Donsbach's top historical fiction of 2009 list: click here. Margaret is both a demanding reader and perceptive reviewer.

I've been enjoying reading Margaret Atwood's blog. Her "Fifteen Book Tour Packing Tips" has excellent advice — not surprising considering that she spends most of her life traveling. (How does she do it?) I'll be reviewing her post on "Ten Editing Tips, for Your Fiction Mss." on my return to Normal Life. Early in January, I plan to read/edit the first draft of the novel I finished at the end of October. (Am I nervous? You bet.)

My New Year's resolution for 2010: finish drafts two and three (without going crazy).

Happy New Year, everyone. Twenty-ten has a nice round sound and bodes well.

Distracted by software

.

.

I'm on a Mac (I'm one of the Fervent Faithful) and have been using Microsoft Word forever. I use many of its bells and whistles: comments, hidden text, footnotes, styles. My relationship with Word is conflicted, however: I use Word 2004 because I find Word 2008 impossibly confusing. And lately, Word 2004 has been sluggish and — worse — buggy. Several times in a day it has crashed on me; I've lost work and had to retrace. This is a terrible problem!

So I've been looking into alternatives. OpenOffice.org does seem to be a possibility, but I quickly discovered that I couldn't insert a space above a line (how basic is that?), that zooming and hiding text was cumbersome, and worse, that I can't split the screen. I'm constantly referring back to part of the manuscript I'm working on while working on another part. I need to be able to see both, scroll through.

(What's really nice about OpenOffice — other than the fact that it's free — is that clicking on "full screen" actually does fill the screen.)

I also tested Pages, which has a nice feel. Zooming was a little easier, but I couldn't see how to hide a text selection. But the clincher, for me, yet again, is that it does not allow one to split the screen.

If I could find a comfortable program that had these features, I would consider switching.

I was reading Wen Fu this morning, the ancient text on writing, and nowhere does it deal with the frustrations of a word-processing program.

P.S. "Print out manuscript" is still on the To Do list. Spellcheck took a day!

*****

Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/

Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Caroline Leavitt on Butler's "From Where You Dream"

.

.

I'm a collector of books on writing, but few "speak" so clearly as Robert Olen Butler's FROM WHERE YOU DREAM. I've mentioned his book a number of times on this blog. It is within reach of my computer now, so I was pleased to see novelist Caroline Leavitt write about it on her blog today: here.

I've a flurry of things to do today. In addition to family and office matters, here's my writing-related to-do list. It's rather long, considering that I'm not, momentarily, actually writing.

1. Print out manuscript (in preparation for first read-through on return from Christmas holiday): this takes longer than one would think.
   
2. Finish writing newsletter — prepare to send it out soon!
3. Revise biography and send it with photo to San Miguel Writers' Conference for their brochure.
4. Set up character profiles. 

Of all of these, the last is the most important, yet it is the most likely to be pushed aside. Also neglected: research!

Thoughts from an inch-sized heart

.

.

Maybe it's travel fatigue, or maybe it's my advancing age  . . .  or perhaps it's a malaise many writers are dealing with now (and indeed, most everyone): the sense that things were more happening before. The sense that the peak of success is now in the past. 

Wandering in and out of airport bookstores, knowing my books will not be there, telling myself not to even bother looking (and then glancing), and then wandering out, trying not to feel disappointment, admonishing myself for even thinking it possible.

Why do I even put myself though this? Because, in truth, I long to be that best-seller on the exclusive airport bookstore shelves and I feel, now, that my time is past, my chance at the gold ring.

But what kind of goal is that? The truth is that once I'm back at work again, once I'm engaged with the challenge of crafting a story, I won't give this a thought. The only goal that matters is to write.

On the ride home from the airport, through the beautiful Mexican towns, the dark desert hills, I listened to a podcast "Writers on Writing" interview of Louis Alterto Urrea. I love this author – love his and his wife's tweets on Twitter (@Urrealism) — and consider his novel The Hummingbird's Daughter one of the best historical fiction novels of all time. The interviewer concluded the talk by asking for his advice to writers.

"What I try to always bring across to the students is that they should surrender to the process of it. There is an ancient Chinese writing text called Wen Fu, and Wen Fu actually means "Writing Fu" — as in Kung Fu.  . . .  I am just trying to give them the sense that you are actually doing this writing not to be famous, not to be rich, or even to get groupies — as lovely as that might be — but to practice. You're doing a spiritual and physical practice in the world which will effect your response to this place we are living in."

Exactly.

Wen Fu was written around 300 A.D. Read it: it's beautiful:

Writing is in itself a joy,

Yet saints and sages have long since held it in awe.

For it is being, created from a void;

It is sound rung out of profound silence.

In a sheet of paper is contained the infinite,

And, evolved from an inch-sized heart, an endless panorama.

I love that: an inch-sized heart. 

*****

Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

More on Mantel

.

.

My blog posts here get automatically posted to my Facebook home page (but not, BTW, to my "fan" page, as I would like, for reasons I've yet to sort out). Typically, on Facebook, there can evolve quite a discussion, which is what happened to my post a week ago Friday, "Weeping over History." Margaret Donsbach, Katherine Mary Govier and I got into quite an interesting discussion about the POV Mantel used in her brilliant novel, Wolf Hall. Govier has now written an excellent review of that novel for the Canadian National Post, "Why I love Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall," in which she mentions some of what was discussed.

Meanwhile, I'm still under the spell of that brilliant novel. I'll be adding it to my Great Historical Novels lists. Few can compare.

On giving readings

.

.

Since arriving in San Miguel de Allende — in addition to catching up with friends and getting resettled — I prepared for a talk/reading.

I had planned to give the same reading I had given in Toronto in the spring, but realized that I really needed to revise it, make it current.

Of course this meant endless revisions and print-outs in addition to talking it out, timing it, and then, ultimately, practicing it in front of a mirror.

As a rule of thumb, I try to talk it through three times on the day of the event, the last one as close to the event as possible. Consequently, my voice was hoarse!

I like very much my new system of printing out the talk -- every word, including the selections from the book -- on 8.5 x 11 paper. I print it out in big, bold type that is easy to read, giving each sentence its own paragraph. I make sure to dog-ear the pages so that they are easy to turn. I use an elegant black binder to read from.

The talk went exceptionally well — so many people! The one thing I learned from it, however, is to make sure that the mike is working well for the audience. Some mikes you talk into — others you talk over. This was a talk-over kind, and sometimes — on a "t" sound, for example — I later learned that it spit the sound out at the audience. (I've seen one author who travels with her own mike, and I can understand why.)

The second reader of the evening — Barbara Levine, author of the amazing book Finding Frida Kahlo — had trouble with the low lighting. It was hard for her to see the text of her book. It occurred to me that a clip-on night-reader might be a handy thing to have on hand.

(Photo: the jardin at night in San Miguel de Allende. This is such a beautiful, vibrant and peaceful town, it pains me that visitors have been frightened away by the press north of the border.)


**********
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
Blog: http://sandragulland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/3xzbgv
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Sandra_Gulland

Weeping over history

.

.

I highly recommend this wonderful article by Hilary Mantel, on researching Wolf Hall. I admire this writer more and more. (I had something to say about her writing in my previous post.)

"How It Must Have Been" is an insightful review of Wolf Hall by Stephen Greenblatt in the New York Review of Books. He has a lot of interesting things to say about Cromwell and the nature of historical fiction.

Greenblatt asks: What is historical fiction? His definition is more narrow than I would have it, focusing on known characters and events:

At issue then is not merely the setting in an era different from the present of the novelist, the interest in significant historical events, and the representation of identifiable, documented historical actors, though all of these are important in establishing the parameters of the form.

The emphasis's in the quote are my own: for me, historical fiction does not have to touch on "significant" events or people. For me, historical fiction need only take me back in time, and Greenblatt expresses this quality well:

Historical novels have a further characteristic. They generate a sense in the reader best summed up in exclamations like "Yes, this is the way it must have been"; "This is how they must have sounded"; "This is what it must have felt like."

And further: "The historical novel then is always an act of conjuring." (As is true of all fiction.)

The historical novel ... offers the dream of full access, access to what went on behind closed doors, off the record, in private, when no one was listening or recording.

Greenblatt and other reviewers have noted Mantel's unique point-of-view in this novel.

Mantel contrives a telling effect by often referring to Cromwell as "he" without further identification, so that in many sentences the reader must figure out where, in a welter of "he's" and "him's," Cromwell is

Here is an example of the sometimes disorientating use of "he":

"Master Cromwell," he says lightly, "either my calculations are wrong, or the universe is not as we think it."

He says, "Why are comets bad signs?..."

The first speaker is the king's astronomer, and normally, the second "he" would refer back to him. Not in this novel. The second he — "He says" — is Cromwell speaking ... always Cromwell. It's effective, but it takes a little getting used to.

I have a theory about this, a hunch. I suspect it possible that the novel was first written in the first person voice and then changed to the close third. There are a few instances of the first person voice remaining. For example:

Very well. I dry my tears, those tears from All Hallows day. I sit with the cardinal, by the fire at Esher in a room with a smoking chimney. (page 162, Canadian edition)

This passage stands out. It is a rare use of the first person voice. This passage would normally have read: Very well. He dries his tears, those tears from All Hallows day. He sits with the cardinal, by the fire at Esher in a room with a smoking chimney. 

But as I said: just a hunch.

I'm in the middle of the novel now, and I'm having a little difficulty with the transition. Wolsey, wonderful Wolsey, has died, and Cromwell now serves King Henry VIII. There isn't the same emotional connection. Cromwell has lost his bearings, and so have I. I'm confident, however, that we will make it through.


*****
Image above: portrait of Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532-3.