Reading, Writing, and Publishing Links: 12/26/12

Since all the cool kids have been doing it, I thought I'd put together a little Wednesday links post every week. I'll keep it short, since the big news roundups tend to cover the major stuff. These are just favorite posts I've come across in my day-to-day surfing.

While you're reading, here's a song I revisited last week. Isn't it lovely?

"Soul Meets Body"--Death Cab For Cutie

1) Brilliant author/blogger Foz Meadows wrote a guest post for The Book Smugglers, which is one of my favorite book blogs.  The post is about literary bad boys, and astutely explains the difference between the "Classic Bad Boy" (the literary equivalent of Danny from Grease and Johnny from Dirty Dancing) and the more problematic kind that's become popular lately. This type--which Meadows describes as the "New Abuser"--includes specimens like Edward Cullen and his spinoff, who are bad not because they reject the status quo, but because they're actively dangerous for the (usually female) protagonist. Here's a snip:

And by abusive behaviour, I mean behavioural patterns which are listed by domestic abuse authorities as warning signs that you’re in a toxic or dangerous relationship. These are all clear indicators that something is seriously wrong, especially when they appear in confluence; and yet these are exactly the same characteristics which, time and again, I see being displayed by the male love interests in YA, PNR and urban fantasy novels, as though aggressive behaviour somehow becomes sweet and acceptable when the abuser loves their victim, or vice versa.

For those who are interested in trends and patterns in YA literature, this is definitely worth a read.

2) In a post called "Ladders," accomplished fantasy author Patricia Wrede reminds us that publication is not the end of a writer's journey.


3) In a brief post called "What's Not Working," agent and blogger Wendy Lawton considers whether several popular marketing techniques are really effective.  

4) China Miéville rants brilliantly against Belgium's reaction to the blatantly racist Tintin in the Congo. This post is from February, but still worth reading. I got it from a year-end link roundup on a great blog I recently started following, Things Mean A Lot. 

5) "Stories Are Genderless," another post by Foz Meadows, is another one from the link roundup in #4. It's from April, but an excellent read. It deals with the oft-cited conceit that boys won't or can't enjoy books by female authors. 

And that's it for right now! I had a wonderful holiday--quiet, at home, with family--and, hope you all did, too. New Year's is coming up! I have a "Favorite Books of 2012" list almost ready to post (that's read, not published, in 2012), and am working slowly on my winter story. I hope you have a safe and happy New Year!

XOXO
Kate

A rambling update, in the style of my Facebook statuses

If I haven't mentioned it: I'm working on a novel, and not one of the ones I've mentioned here before, either. It's a YA contemporary fantasy about an evil imaginary friend. I called it Creatures of the Mind back when I was wandering through the first draft, but now that I'm on the rewrite I think it needs another title. Usually I have no trouble with this, but for this one my mind keeps throwing up ideas like Walking With Julian and Walking Through Mountains, which sound like Nicholas Sparks novels. No disrespect to Mr. Sparks, but that's not really what I'm writing and I'd like something more... sinister. I briefly considered  Julian's Last Week, but decided it was too ambiguous. What do you guys think of Julian's Bodies?


Anyway, I'm on Chapter 5 now out of a projected ten or eleven, so that's pretty good-- and then I have to come around and rewrite the beginning, because that is how it always goes with my stories. And I'm also working on that winter story I mentioned on Twitter. I must admit that that one's really slow going-- but I shall persevere!


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So I finally finished reading The Scar by China Mieville.

And you guys.

YOU GUYS.

It is so amazing. I keep trying to explain to people how amazing this book is. They laugh at my enthusiasm and don't really seem to get it. But... it's like a perfect storm of flawless literary craftsmanship. The plot is complex and twisted in a way that drops the world out from under you every time a new secret is revealed. The characters are original and nuanced. I know a lot of people don't like Bellis Coldwine, but I personally was really able to sympathize with her. And poor Tanner Sack was just the perfect noble everyman. I didn't know when I picked up the book that it was the second in a trilogy, but apart from a lot of "foreign" vocabulary that was hard to stumble through I didn't have any trouble with it-- it stood alone just fine.  I will definitely be reading the other two New Crobuzon books, and everything else by Mieville I can get my hands on. (And possibly discovering how to make the little accent mark over the e so I can fangirl while spelling his name correctly.)

*cough* Anyway. So that's what I've been reading. Now I'm working on All The King's Men, which I did not appreciate properly when I failed to read it in college-- and after that is P.D. James' Pride and Prejudice sequel, Death Comes to Pemberley. (I am so excited about that one, I cannot tell you.) And there are other things, too. I love books, did I ever mention?

So. That's the news from Lake Woebegone. What are you up to now?