"wasn't much else for us to learn, except maybe algebra"

Alisha Layman

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Room, Emma Donoghue 

 When I first gathered this list together, I guess I didn't really see a lot of connections; a story of Southern life and racism during the 30s, a Victorian-era story of love and independence, a futuristic thriller about government control, the tale of a young man from Afghanistan, a story of a child growing up in the confines of a single room. But the more I looked, the more I saw that they were all pretty similar. All of the novels are told by a first-person narrator. These central characters are surrounded by a fairly small cast of supporting characters. Furthermore, the central characters are all young, or at least, the novel begins while they are young; Scout begins the novel at age six, Jane is ten in the first chapter, Jack is five, Katniss is sixteen, and Amir--although the novel begins with him as an adult, looking back on his life--tells the story of how his life changed starting at age twelve.

This is my living room. Can you tell which novel is my favorite?

Because these novels begin with such young narrators, they all seem to be Bildungsroman novels. The characters are growing up, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. For example, Scout is trying to grow into a woman, Amir must learn how to grow from his past mistakes, and Jack must learn to grow up outside of Room, and the develop a normal life.

Along the way to this growth, the characters face many obstacles, such as the actual Hunger Games for Katniss.  The struggles that the characters must endure, however, aren't always physical. For the central characters in these novels, many obstacles are internal. This is probably the reason that I really love first-person narrated novels. I am privy to the thoughts and emotions of the protagonist, rather than just her dialogue. Access to thoughts makes a more sympathetic character, and it allows me to connect with the novel a little better. The protagonists in these novels certainly go through a lot of internal struggles. As Scout is growing up, she is struggling with her gender identity, as well as her morals concerning her father's case. Jane is torn between her independence and love. Katniss, too, is torn, but for her it's between humanity and survival. Poor little Jack struggles with comprehending life outside of Room. Amir probably has the most internal struggles of any character I have ever read. He is wracked with guilt over not saving his best friend from being raped, so much so that he decides to accuse him of theft and have him sent away; many years later, still a victim to his guilt, he goes on a quest to redeem himself.

There seems to be one overarching theme that draws all of these books together, though. It's something that I look for in novels, when I'm looking for something new to read. It's not necessarily genre; I love mystery and fantasy genres, but what I really look for in novels is something that makes me feel. All of these novels really excite some strong emotions in me--pretty much, for all of these, the predominant feeling is sadness; they're absolutely heartbreaking. I'll admit it. Room made me sob and scream and throw the book across the room. But I still picked it back up. Because I love it when novels can do that to me.

*Post title is quoted from To Kill a Mockingbird. Seriously. Is it obvious yet that it's my favorite?

An Overabundance of Books

by Molly Miller

The Stand, Stephen King

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy, E.L. James

Harry Potter Series, J.K. Rowling

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

You said to only pick five of our favorite novels. I do not think that I can accurate depict in words how difficult this was for me. I literally sat in front of my computer trying to pick just five for probably half an hour. For me, when reading a book I either absolutely love it or I hate it. So I went with the five books that I find myself constantly going back to and rereading time after time.

When it comes to reading, my tastes have always been rather varied; however, I tend to gravitate towards books that have some sort of romance contained within them. The major plot of the story does not have to be romance, but I prefer that there be one somewhere within the novel. My seventh grade English teacher actually told me that I was probably the only one to read Stephen King’s The Stand for the love story.

One thing that the majority of these novels have in common is length. All of them except for To Kill a Mockingbird are rather long novels. I think what really draws me to these type of novels is that in order to make a novel so long there has to be a lot of description. This allows me to completely immerse myself within the story and feel like I am actually there. Since the novels were so long, not only was I able to immerse myself within it, but I was able to stay there for the period of time in which it took me to read them.

Something else that all of these books have in common is the relationship between the characters. By this I do not necessarily mean a romantic relationship, however these relationships fall under this as well. The bonds that the characters have are often times so strong and affect their everyday lives.  I love to see these developments and how they work for both the better and the worse. Some people will always stand by your side and other times those you trust will betray you in ways you cannot imagine. In The Stand Harold Lauder betrays everyone when he pretends to be on their side and then plants a bomb intent on killing the Free Zone Committee.

These novels all also seem to contain some sort of villain. Although some of them are not as obvious as Lord Voldemort, they all contain some form of villain. In my mind a villain is not always someone who is evil, but rather a character that I do not like and always seems to get in the way of how I feel the story should go. For instance in Pride and Prejudice to villain to me is Mr. Wickham, because he is deceitful and plants the seed of doubt about Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth. I really enjoy these types of novels because it shows that you can overcome obstacles in life, especially people who stand in your way.  

I want to again reiterate that these may be my favorites, my go to books, but they are in no way to only ones that I enjoy. There are not my books that I have read that I did not love. In fact my mother is constantly telling me that I have too many books, but I do not listen and keep buying more of them. I just cannot seem to get enough.

“When I look at my room, I see a girl who loves books.”

Looking for Alaska , John Green (10)

The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald (6)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling (4)

Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen (2)

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window, Lemony Snicket (6)

When listing these five books, it took no time. I looked at my personal home library and smiled, knowing exactly which ones I wanted. It was easy to pick out. I knew where they were on my book shelf and the exact number of times I'd read each book (which is included for your enjoyment). When I finally finished with my list and looked it over, I noticed something interesting. All of these books were narrated by either third person or males. This was something interesting to me. Sure, I'd read Twilight and the FSoG series, but I never really enjoyed those. Now, I'm not saying that I DON'T enjoy female narrators, but there's something about getting inside the mind of the gender of the opposite sex and seeing, "Oh, so that's what they would do in that situation". Of course, this scenario doesn't work for all those novels, but I digress.

The amount of characters range with each book, but from that, there is a set "gang" in each novel. For example, Harry Potter of course has Hermione and Ron. In Gatsby, there is Nick, his cousin and her husband, Gatsby and of course, Tom's girl in New York. Lemony Snicket and his incessant need to ruin the Baudelaire's. John Green normally keeps to about a number of three, but for this book, there was a quite a larger gang than normal for him. And Water for Elephants had Jacob and Marlena, oh and of course, Rosie the elephant. I think, because I am this way myself, that I like books with a smaller "gang" feel. I like to be able to see a person's name in a story and know exactly what is going on with them, just as I do with my friends.

It's all about relating the story to my own, if you're noticing. 

These stories all have the struggles of friendship and love. I believe that, even a work of complete fiction, can show moral values. In Looking for Alaska, the protagonist "Pudge" meets a crazy girl named Alaska and learns about friendship and heartbreak. He learns what it's like to be rejected by someone you supposedly love. These stories also have to deal with losing someone, which everyone has had to do. It shows the wrong ways and the right ways to deal with losing someone. In the Wide Window, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny lose their Aunt to the leeches in the lake. Hell, the whole series they learn to deal with deaths. Their parents, first and foremost. Also, these stories teach you about good vs. evil. The most obvious example is Harry vs. Lord Voldemort and the most minuscule example is Pudge vs. Death. 

The universes that are presented in these books are very vast. From Hogwarts to a little traveling circus during the depression in America. But, they all teach you something about yourself. From each and every single one of these books, I have learned more and more about myself. I have learned that love ISN'T the most important thing in the world. There's courage and friendship. Standing up to your enemies is important, yes, but it's even harder to stand up to your friends (God, Dumbledore is incredibly quotable. I love it.). 

I think what is MOST important about seeing these books and reading them is developing a relationship with your characters. Alaska, from Looking for Alaska, is probably the most relatable character I've ever read. Alaska is a girl that named herself because her parents let her. She wanted to be unique and stand out, from the time that I was a kid, that's all I've ever wanted. A voice. Not to mention, Alaska had this mountain of books she wanted to read. Let's just say that I may or may not have a mountain in my room.

The Greatest Novels of All Time! (In my opinion)

1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
2. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
3. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
4.Watchmen by Alan Moore
5. Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

First off, a disclaimer. I included graphic novels in consideration for my all time favorite novels. They include chapters, a long story complete with story arcs and character arcs, and can be rich in meaning and subtext.

 

Second, this was difficult, particularly figuring out the final book in the five. It always seems that way for me in top 5 or top 10 lists.

 These novels all have decently sized casts of characters that feature in their stories. I think that is something I generally appreciate about stories - when authors create more than one character that is three dimensional and well rounded. Watchmen and the Three Musketeers share in a sort of serialized nature: they can (and in the case of The Three Musketeers probably were) be read as a bunch of individual installments and still hold together. Case in point: I actually read The Three Musketeers over the course of two years - not because it was bad, I loved it! - but because of the combination of its easy to put down/pick back up serialized nature and also the heap of books I had to read in high school AP English classes.

 I also liked that the novels featured characters with realistic internal struggles. In Frankenstein, the Creature wants love and companionship. In To the Lighthouse, James Ramsay despises his father yet at the same time desires his approval. Rorschach is still haunted and broken by the murder of the young girl he investigated years earlier.




The worlds all share in their intrigue - even for classical settings. Frankenstein is set in these dark and dreary locations where you either fear for the imminent arrival of the Creature in the present or marvel at the fantasy-like little cottage where the French family lives that the Creature so desperately wants to be a part of. In To the Lighthouse, the Ramsay's summer home in Scotland is so 'normal' - but this adds to the striking realism of the characters and the piece as a whole. Also, the lighthouse, what James so much wants to go to, is a far-off fantasy for much of a novel. The Three Musketeers is set in a France where the King and Cardinal are at such odds and had so many sort of spies and secrets that it felt at times like a sort of spy setting while still retaining its classical qualities. The gritty world of Watchmen, brought to life by both the images and the text, features vigilante superheroes who are just normal people in costumes, and with plenty of insecurities and doubts. Lastly, the world of Inkdeath is inside the book written by one of its main characters - a fantasy world where new elements can be written and spoken into existence.



I think I've surprised myself with this list in that three of the five novels were written many years ago (to say the least). I do enjoy the Harry Potters, Huger Games, Redwalls, Inheritance Cycles of the world, but I suppose for a best of all time list my tastes are a bit stricter. 

Professionalizing Yourself

This course will introduce you to the ways in which social media will become a part of your professional writing life. Consider this to be the moment you begin your transition from using social media for play and personal use to a more professional approach. 

Remember, a lot of people read this blog. 

Well, maybe not thousands. But hundreds. Definitely hundreds. 

Please create a Google profile. Consider what email address you use to sign up for Blogger, twitter, etc.  Maybe it's time to graduate from luvucolts at gmail to your actual name. Consider the photograph you use. 

I want to show you guys how writers use social media as professionals trying to connect to other writers and potential readers, and I want to observe how skilled you are at this b/c I’m recruiting “Social Media Tutors” for the 2013 Midwest Writers Workshop. 

If you have a blog of your own, great!  Consider blogging weekly or bi-weekly about the course and your progress on your novel. If you don’t have a blog, consider starting one. 

Response #9: Jacket Copy

THIS WEEK, YOUR RESPONSE WILL BE DONE ON THE PRIVATE BLOG.

http://novelwritingspring12.blogspot.com/

Thank you!

Cathy

Response #8: Genre Fiction in Creative Writing Classes

I'm sorry that this posted a few days early. This blog post is for NEXT WEEK, APRIL 9-12.
The response for TODAY (APRIL 2 OR 3) is on the partial. THIS ONE.

First, read this blog post by a former student of mine, Sal Pane, who is also a teacher of creative writing.

Then, consider the following questions and statements:

• The books we find and read as young people are generally commercial fiction, genre fiction. The only place to buy books in my hometown was at the grocery store, for example. I wasn't exposed to literary fiction much. I wrote about this here. I find it interesting that what probably brought you to the creative writing classroom is your love of genre fiction. And the first thing you learn is that the kind of book that brought you to us isn't acceptable in the classroom. Or most classrooms. 

• You need to know this: if you want to get an MFA, you will have a very difficult time getting in if your writing sample is genre fiction. This is because most of the faculty (not all) who teach in writing programs don't write genre fiction. And remember, decisions about who gets in are made by a committee comprised of writing faculty, and the number one criteria is the writing sample. You don't just apply to an MFA program like you do to college. For example, the most competitive programs might receive 500-1000 applications for 8 spots. This isn't a bias being expressed by individual writing faculty. The governing body of this discipline, AWP, clearly says that the standard in creative writing programs is "work of publishable LITERARY quality." So: what I'm saying is that if your novel for this class is pretty much straight genre, and you want to pursue an MFA, you will have trouble getting in to most programs if you use this book as your writing sample. You can piss and moan about this, but it won't do much good. You have to decide: if you want to pursue a graduate education AND you want to be a genre writer, start thinking hard about this issue. Do you need an MFA in order to write the kind of book you want to write? Are you willing to write a different kind of book in order to get in and to graduate? 

• What, other than marketing, is the difference between genre fiction and literary fiction? What genre fiction do you consider to be "LITERARY" and what genre fiction do you find not literary?  

Your 500-750-word response must refer to the Sal Pane post to demonstrate that you read it.