Writer inspiration! Watch this video of an adorable French child improvising a strange and imaginative story. I guarantee it will make you a better writer. Do it!
Once upon a time… from Capucha on Vimeo.
(I think “chicken box” = “chicken pox”)
-marcia
via Boing Boing
A high school librarian’s daughter illustrated a graphic-novel version of Macbeth. You know, the Scottish play. By that Shakespeare guy. He mentioned it as his pick in the library’s newsletter and put some copies on a library display table (giving free copies to some students). An ethics board decided he had abused his position as a civil servant, fining him $500 and making him sign a three-page admission of guilt.
“There are so many things going on they could investigate,” he said in an interview, “and they had nothing better to do than allege that my daughter would have gotten 20 cents in royalties if someone bought the book. But nobody did. I gave out free copies. I was just so proud of my daughter for writing it.”
HarperCollins has tossed another vegetable into the social networking salad with Authonomy. Here’s how it works: Take your unpublished or self-published book (or part thereof) and upload it to the site. Then other members read, rate and comment upon your work. HarperCollins says once the site is running full speed, it will read the most highly rated manuscripts in search of “talented writers we can sign up for our traditional book publishing programmes.”
My immediate reaction was cynicism and an audible “ick” noise. I don’t know. I just don’t buy that HarperCollins takes these submissions seriously or that anyone of merit is on there. Also, it seems like it is a way to publicize ideas that may be safer left private or shared with trusted professionals rather than shared with the possibly desperate competition. Also also, I sometimes get all anti-Kumbaya at the prospect of social networking, reality-TV-style competitions and online “communities.” But I am kind of a grump.
Pretending I’m not a grump, I came up with this list of reasons why other people might like it: (Read on …)
This week is Banned Books Week. Let’s read some controversial literature! I am continually surprised that people still try to ban Mark Twain.
According to the American Library Association, more than 400 books were challenged in 2007. The 10 most challenged titles were:
1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
3. Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes
4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
7. TTYL by Lauren Myracle
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
9. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
HarperCollins, come on! Lauren Conrad, star of reality show “The Hills” and possibly the most boring person on television, signed a book deal for a fiction series based on her life. Lots of people like Wonder Bread. Maybe it should write a book.
-marcia
David Foster Wallace — author of “Infinite Jest” and “Brief Interviews With Hideous Men,” among many other works — died last week. In his memory, Harper’s Magazine has collected full versions of pieces he wrote for the magazine here. The Los Angeles Times scouted YouTube for video interviews of him and put the best of them here for easy viewing. Definitely an original talent, it is a shame to lose him so young from what police say was a suicide.
-marcia
The New York Times has an excerpt from “The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Publishers, Their Editors and Authors” about how editor Robert Giroux (who recently passed away) missed the chance to publish “The Catcher in the Rye.”
I gave [my boss at Harcourt, Eugene Reynal] the book to read. He didn’t like it, didn’t understand it. He asked me, “Is this kid in the book supposed to be crazy?” …“Gene,” I said, “I’ve shaken hands with this author. I agreed to publish this book.”
“Yes,” he said, “but, Bob, you’ve got to remember, we have a textbook department.” And I said, “What’s that got to do with it?” He said, “This is a book about a kid going to prep school.” So he sent it to the textbook people, who read it and said, “It’s not for us.” …
Deb’s Historical Research Page has links to all sorts of resources for finding things out such as what card games were popular in the 19th century or the price of foods in the 17th century. I found this site through the site of a well-respected researcher, Lisa Gold. I suspect she’ll continue to feature more helpful stuff like this.
-marcia
The New York Times Book Review has a piece on “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” — the memoir of Lee Israel, a biographer who turned to forging letters from famous literary and entertainment figures when times got tough.
She bought a gaggle of vintage manual typewriters, had famous letterheads printed up on antique paper and used an old television as a light box on which she could trace signatures. Even so, while writing as Noël Coward, Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber and, most convincingly, Louise Brooks, Israel remained more an enhancer than an outright fabricator. She would use some of her subjects’ best real lines (Brooks on the studio head Harry Cohn: “My cat has spit up hairballs more attractive than him”) and take care with the chronology of their lives. The seams rarely showed. Indeed, the editor of “The Letters of Noël Coward,” published only last year, included two Israel pastiches — “a big hoot and a terrific compliment,” thought the erstwhile forger.
It was her Coward forgeries that ultimately led to her downfall. A friend of Coward’s saw forged letters that were more open with his homosexuality than he ever would have been in correspondence. And so the Feds were alerted to Israel’s activities, and her forgery career was over.
I’m dubious about supporting someone profiting from their crimes. But damn if this all isn’t terribly fascinating.
-marcia
How come no one celebrates my alcoholism like John Cheever’s?
You know, seminal American author John Cheever and I have a lot in common. He needed to drink a fifth of scotch before he had the courage to utter a word to another human being, and so do I. Much like Cheever, I’m completely blotto by 10 a.m. because of a deep, withering fear that my family will eventually discover my bisexuality. And, to top it all off, we were both born in Wollaston, Massachusetts, if you can believe it! But just because he’s one of history’s finest short story writers, Cheever’s epic benders are considered delightful, whereas I’ve just got a “serious problem with alcohol.”
What a bunch of horseshit.
~ Joy