The Sequel Question (Tor.com post)

Posted on by November 4, 2009
Reply

Since Give Up the Ghost was released, I’ve been getting a question I suspect every writer hears after publishing a book not clearly part of a series: “Is there going to be a sequel?”

When I wrote Ghost, it never occurred to me to think of it as anything other than a stand-alone novel. The plot and character arcs I envisioned fit well within the scope of one book. I saw Cass’ story as being—well, maybe not finished—but finished enough that the rest could live in readers’ imaginations. But if people want to read more about her, why wouldn’t I pursue that?

Read on!

Comments welcome here or there!

Story Psych: What Makes a Good Story (Part 3)

Posted on by November 3, 2009
Reply

Last week I talked about how memory and behaviorism might affect readers’ enjoyment of a story. The final area of psychology I’m going to discuss is persuasion.

When psychologists study persuasive techniques, they are usually focusing on topics like advertising and politics. How do people persuade other people to trust them and believe the message they’re conveying (whether it’s “Buy this product now!” or “Vote for me!”)? But persuasion plays a role in many other areas, including stories.

Read on!

Open to comments here and there.

What makes a protagonist “strong”?

Posted on by November 2, 2009
1

Next week I’m going to be leading a Topic of the Week over at The Enchanted Inkpot about “strong” heroes and heroines. While I’m gathering my thoughts on the subject, I thought it’d be interesting to do a quick poll and see what qualities you all feel makes a character “strong” (strong purposely in quotations since your definition of the word may be different from someone else’s). Feel free to comment if you think I’ve missed something or you want to clarify your answers!

What qualities make you consider a character a “strong” protagonist (pick as many as apply)?
Physical strength
Will power/perseverance
Physical skills (e.g., good at archery, runs fast, ties good knots)
Mental skills (e.g., quick thinking, creativity, lots of knowledge in a particular area)
Social skills (e.g., persuasive, charsmatic, gets people to trust them)
Passion (cares deeply about another person/a place/an ideal/etc.)
Courage (faces people/situations that scare them)
Trustworthiness (sticks to their word, doesn’t purposefully deceive allies)
Emotional awareness (in tune with feelings, at ease with them)
Physical attractiveness
Imperfection (has weaknesses, not everything comes easy)
Something else I’ll explain in the comments

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Story Psych: What Makes a Good Story (Part 2)

Posted on by October 30, 2009
5

Earlier I talked about how the psychological study of memory can give us clues about what qualities cause a story to be considered “good.” Today I’d like to examine the role behavioral psychology might play.

When people talk about behavioral psychology, the name that most often comes up is B.F. Skinner. Anyone who’s taken an introductory psychology course will have heard of him: he’s best known for his experiments with pigeons and rats in which he investigated how environmental stimuli affected their behavior. The principles he wrote about—particularly, that giving a reward (reinforcement) increases a behavior, while introducing a punishment decreases it—are widely used in many parts of our lives. Kids in school get stickers for good work and detention for bad behavior. An employee may get a raise for excellent performance and a reprimand for carelessness. Stop for a moment and think, and you can probably come up with a dozen ways you are reinforced (directly or subtly) for behaving “correctly,” and punished for a misstep.

But what does all that have to do with stories? I’d say rather a lot.

Read on!

As before, comments both there and here are welcomed. 🙂

Flashback: Failed Attempt at a Semi-Date

Posted on by October 29, 2009
Reply

Context: I had invited B over to my house to study for exams together. He was supposed to arrive at 3:00.

December 14, 1995 (Megan is 14)

It’s 3:40 and B isn’t here yet. He phoned me at 2:30 to get the directions ’cause his dad threw out the sheet, and said he was going to leave right then. But I don’t know what happened, ’cause he’s not here and I just phoned his house and no one answered so he’s not there. He must have gotten lost or something. I hope he doesn’t come while I’m baby-sitting, or phone, ’cause then I’ll miss him. I wonder what the heck happened to him? I hope he’s okay.

It is now 5:45 and I called B again about a half hour ago, but again no one picked it up. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s not supposed to answer the phone if no one else is home, like N. But that doesn’t explain why he hasn’t called me to tell me why he didn’t show up. It’s so stupid. I don’t see how he can go and act like he wants to come over when he doesn’t even care enough to call. I mean, what kind of game is this? ‘Cause it does seem like a game. “Let’s see how much pain I can inflict here,” that’s what it would be called. It is so incredibly stupid. He had a million times to back out or lie to get out of it. He could have just said no at the beginning, or said his father said he couldn’t, or anything. And what bugs me the most is that he must have meant to come. Why else would he call? So what is the point of all this? So I can write about the wonderful experience of liking someone who doesn’t even care? Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve been alternating between feeling like I’m going to cry and feeling like I’m going to throw up since about 3:30. It isn’t very pleasant. Hopefully, I’ll actually get a hold of him next time I call, so I can find out what he has to say for himself. I don’t know if I’m going to keep trying. Unless his reason is really good, probably not. It’s not worth it. It probably never was. Too bad I only learn that now.

Okay, I’m getting worried now. It’s 8:18 and I just called B again, and no one answered. His dad should be home by now even if he (B) is not picking up the phone, so someone should be answering. Unless something did happen to B somehow, like he got hurt or something. I don’t know. Or his dad could just be working late. Still… I hope I see him tomorrow.

I really hate this because the whole time I’ve been telling myself that he isn’t going to end up coming, and then I was so close to it I believed it was actually going to happen, but it didn’t after all.

—

An Introduction to Flashbacks
The Flashback Cast
The Flashback Timeline

Story Psych: A Semi-Scientific Look at What Makes a Good Story (Tor post)

Posted on by October 28, 2009
Reply

As a psychology major and someone whose day job regularly draws on psychological principles (I’m a behavioral therapist for children with special needs), I thought it’d be interesting to do a series of posts examining how the science of the mind might be applied to the world of literature.

To start things off, I’ll be tackling one of the biggest questions there is: just what is it that makes a story “good”? From a psychological perspective, that is.

One of the biggest factors, I’d guess, is memory…

Read on!

(Feel free to comment there or here–I’ll be watching both.)

Hey Readers! (Two massive giveaways)

Posted on by October 27, 2009
Reply

Want to support your local library (school or public)? Direct the librarians you know over to these two awesome giveaways!

The 2009 Debutantes are giving away 46 books to the winning library, simply for sending in a picture of one of the Debs books. Full details here.

And the Class of 2K9 is offering three sets of books, one of all the 2K9 books for public libraries, and one set each of all the MG and YA titles for an elementary or middle school and a high school. Full details here.

If you’re a librarian yourself, come on over and enter!

That Ghostly Appeal (Tor post)

Posted on by October 26, 2009
Reply

Delve into the folk tales of any culture in the world, and before long you’ll come across ghost stories. The woman who lingers on the bridge where she jumped to her death. The lord of the manor who haunts his former home. Whatever other supernatural creatures catch readers’ attention and become the next hot thing in fiction, ghosts have always been, and are always, here. Whether they’re taking revenge on innocent victims or trying to atone for past wrongs, audiences never seem to tire of them.

As someone who’s written about ghosts more than once, I’ve found myself wondering why. The best answer I can come up with is, it’s because ghosts can mean so many things…

Read the full post here at Tor.com!

Posting elsewere, giveaway, and a blog to follow

Posted on by October 24, 2009
Reply

Three bits of news for you all:

-I’m going to be blogging over at Tor.com a few times a week for the next month! So some days I’ll be directing you over there for a post. My first, on how I became a speculative fiction fan and writer, is up now.

-Want to win a copy of GHOST plus the awesome SHADOWED SUMMER by Saundra Mitchell? Check out this fun giveaway!

–Teens Read Too is starting up a new blog, the TRT Book Club. Check out all the amazing authors who’ve already signed up to participate — and start following the blog so you don’t miss any of ’em!

Five Witchy Books

Posted on by October 23, 2009
Reply

Since Halloween is fast approaching… 🙂

The Witches by Roald Dahl – My favorite Roald Dahl book ever (which is saying a lot) features some very creepy and nasty witches. Beware of women with gloves and itchy heads!

Witchery Hill by Welwyn Wilton Katz – A spooky page-turner by a Canadian author, in which a girl’s stepmother is truly wicked, though of course all of the grown-ups refuse to see it.

The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli – Hansel and Gretel from the witch’s point of view. A look into her theoretical past makes her surprisingly sympathetic — and her end shockingly tragic.

Bras & Broomsticks by Sarah Mlynowski – One of the most fun witch books you’ll ever read, about a teen attempting to take advantage of her younger sister’s witchy heritage (which has passed the older sister by).

The Changeover by Margaret Mahy – A boy witch! Whom Laura must turn to, and awaken powers of her own with, in order to save her little brother. An intense and eerie story.