Fire me up!

My novel writing career began a year and a half ago, in April 2006. I've always written--poetry, newsletters, articles, creative nonfiction, academic type papers, short stories, vignettes, acts in plays, journal entries-- but I'd never attempted a novel before. Couldn't figure out how. So, in April 2006, finding myself going mind-numb at home with my amazing son and adorable nephew (sorry, kiddos!), I decided it was time to figure out how, and, can I just say--boy, what a long, strange, winding road it's been! I say this because, like Jacqueline and Macy, I'm going to write about how the voice class has changed my writing-- sorta, kinda. I don't think it's changed my writing exactly. A voice is a voice is a voice, is it not? I think my writing remains my writing, and my voice remains my voice, but the voice class and the revelations it triggered have provided me with much-needed validation and all of the following have been altered: my goals, my WIPs, my determination, my inner fire, my material, and my willingness to follow my out-of-the-box ideas. I also picked up two new muses, which I may blog about this weekend over at my Throw Another Blog on the Fire blog. Oh, and there's another thing that's been altered-- my blog!

Anyway, a bit more history . . .

Before signing up for the online Romancing Writing class at Gotham where I met my fellow AoTP-ers, I had written a handful of short stories-- two featuring tweens, one featuring a teen, three featuring chick-lit type characters, all of them coming of age type stories with romantic elements. I read mostly mainstream or literary fiction, chick lit, young adult and intermediate fiction, a bit of romance, a bit of suspense and, once in a great while, a fantasy, sci fi, paranormal or horror genre novel. I also read lots of nonfiction. I wasn't big on genre fiction. At all. However, I read a lot of intermediate and young adult fiction across subgenres because (a) I was in charge of the kids department (amongst other things) when I worked at Borders, and (b) I was in grad school, working on my teacher certification and a master's degree in teaching language arts.

The point of all this is that I started out writing chick lit when I entered that Romance writing class. I really had no interest in writing romance genre novels. Heck, the only romance genre novels I had read were the novels in the Outlander series, a couple of books by Kathleen Woodiwiss back in the seventies, Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake series, which isn't exactly romance genre-- and I think that's it. I loved love stories, but I discovered that those I loved weren't strictly romance.

When chick lit was pronounced DEAD following the 2006 RWA national conference, I did some research and discovered I loved, loved, loved SEP, Julia Quinn and Loretta Chase as well as Beth Ciotta and Jennifer Crusie. The thing these writers have in common is that many of their books contain romantic comedy elements. I found something about their books that I thought was akin to chick lit. So, I started converting my chick lit novel into a romance novel. A romantic comedy. A darkish, irreverent, snarky, romantic comedy. Which turned out all screwed up. Blech, blech, blech!

I've had ideas for other novels. I've started them. I've tinkered around with WIP #1, but I haven't really had that fire in my belly that I started out with. I haven't really given my muses enough room to roam wild and free. Until . . .

The voice class!!!!

Why? Because the very first week, Macy sent me an email, just to me, that said something like, I think you could write Young Adult novels. The edgy kind that get banned.

So there you have it-- it all started with Macy.

She was right. I knew instantly because it scared the shit out of me. And excited me. The fire was ignited. The engines zoomed. The wheels all started turning at once. Every time I think about it, still, I get a bit wired and trembly. Perhaps, I think, I could be like one of my heroes who means so very much to kids-- like JK Rowling, Judy Blume, Gary Paulsen, Phillip Pullman, Laurie Halse Anderson, Chris Crutcher, Jerry Spinelli, or others.

I also could write the coming of age, less edgy, chick lit kind,too. I could write series like the Cyd Charisse and Jessica Darling series by Rachel Cohn and Megan McCafferty respectively. I LOVE them.

I briefly thought, well everyone would want to write those kinds of books-- popular, respected YA books-- but that doesn't mean everybody can. But then I realized, no, not everyone wants to write those kinds of books as much as I do. Not everyone would be sitting on the edge of their seat saying, "Oh, wow. I've finally, finally found my true blue calling." ( Do I hear a "hallelujah" in the house? Ah yes, there's one from my mom and dad, lol.)

For three weeks, I've been going nuts checking out YA authors' web sites. Reading, reading, reading. And I'm excited. Ideas are flying. It all ties in to what I wanted to teach before I realized I'd rather write than teach, or maybe, both. Heck, I can't wait to start subbing again as research. Suddenly, the possibilities seem endless.

One of my new muses is a teenager. She said, "It's about time you started listening to me. I'm the one with the tales to spin. Trust me." She also said, "Make sure you thank Macy every day because I've barely begun to mine the very tippy tip of this iceberg , girlfriend. We've got STUFF. All kinds of gloriously screwed up, angsty stuff."

She's right. Thank you, Macy.

I discovered in voice that I predominantly write about finding yourself in hell, and getting out. I tend to like stories about strong, quirky, independent female protagonists and their quests for redemption. My personal hells? Grief/loss, alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, depression/post traumatic stress, stifling boredom and high school, high school, high school. Perhaps, someday I'll expand my repertoire to research other kinds of hell-- environmental devastation, war, Wal Mart. Okay, I'm grinning about that last one. Teenage Muse has already reminded me, a few times now, about stalker hell so we'll see what happens with that seed she keeps blowing at me. I'll be giving her free rein during NaNoWriMo. Till then, my very first WIP has been reripped open and given new life. Everything I learned about how to write a romance novel has been chucked. Not because I think the information wasn't worth learning (it was!), but because I'm not a romance writer. I never was. I know now. I bring a slightly different set of tricks to the equation.

I found this quote by Zadie Smith that I find highly relevant to the voice discussions.

“Fictional truth is a question of perspective, not autobiography. It is what you can't help tell if you write well; it is the watermark of self that runs through everything you do.”

If anything has changed about my writing per se, it's that I've given myself permission to leave my watermark without apology or regret. Without toning it down to appease gentler, less warrior-like souls. I've been called to write, over and over again in my lifetime, because I have something to say. I think it's about time I said it in as many different ways as I possibly can. Who knows? Perhaps, if I don't, no one else will. At least not the same way I would.

And that reminds me of an awesome quote by Martha Graham:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

Cheers and happy writing,
C. Alyson