Congratulations to the lucky winner – and a post on settings

First of all, congratulations to Annabelle H (_annabelleh_) for being the lucky winner of the Wither/Fever Lauren DeStefano giveaway! If you would e-mail me your postal address (mcculloch[dot]amy[at]gmail[dot]com), I’ll get the books out to you straight away.

Over on the Lucky 13s blog, there’s been a lot of chatter about settings and world-buildings, from California (the setting of The Wig in the Window by Kristin Kittscher) to London (and beyond) in 1894 (the many fascinating settings of The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd). This is by far one of my favourite aspects of both writing and reading novels. A good setting can add so much to a story, almost becoming a character in and of itself.

The same works for movies and TV shows too. These are some of my favourite TV show settings:

Lost 
It was a show full of sexy castaways, but there’s no denying that the island was the main star of Lost. Even when Lost lost its plot (and a few of those castaways), the mysteries of the island kept people hooked. And who wouldn’t want to be stuck on a deserted island like that? (without the creepy smoke monsters, of course!)

The Wire
Good Morning Baltimore, every day’s like an open door! Oops, wrong show… Still, what would The Wire be without Baltimore? The accents, the streets, the political tension – yes, it’s far from a complete picture of the city, but it certainly makes for great television viewing.

Sex and the City

The show was basically a love letter to New York City. Could characters like Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte really exist anywhere else? Each one of them is New York through and through. I think Sex and the City 2: Abu Dhabi (itself a gorgeous and exotic city) proves that in this case, New York is the only way, baby.

 

Game of Thrones
Yeah, I’m not going to be able to get away with writing this post without mentioning the best setting on television at the moment: Westeros. As a fantasy writer, George has been able to borrow from all cultures all over the world to create the lush, bleak, desolate, stormy lands that make up Westeros. And HBO are taking full advantage: this year, the show filmed in locations as varied as Croatia and Iceland (among others!) to get the perfect setting.

Science fairs and being creative

I have a confession to make: I was a science fair nerd.

Me, being nerdy, at the Canada Wide Science Fair in Calgary, 2003

Yep, back when I was in high school, I got caught up in science fair fever, and twice I made it through the rounds to national Canada-Wide Science Fair. The first time was in Grade 8, when it was part of the science curriculum – so literally everyone in our year had to enter at the school level (and then it progressed to city-wide/regional level, then nationals). The second time was in Grade 12, when I had given up all formal science education (I think my class schedule resembled: English, English Literature, Creative Writing, History, French) but I still loved science on a practical level - hence why I chose to once again enter the science fair in my own time, although with a partner.

So I was completely intrigued when I logged on to Google and saw an ad for the Google Science Fair. This is its second year running, but I must have missed out on the announcement last year. I love their ethos:

Have you asked a question today? What did you do with it?

Did it take you somewhere new? Did it bring you here?

The Google Science Fair is an online science competition seeking curious minds from the four corners of the globe. Anybody and everybody between 13 and 18 can enter. All you need is an idea.

Geniuses are not always A-grade students. We welcome all mavericks, square-pegs and everybody who likes to ask questions. Simply upload your project here to win some life changing prizes.

Everyone has a question. What’s yours?

“Everyone has a question. What’s yours?” What a great line. I think that sums up exactly what I loved about the whole science fair experience. It was the chance to think about a question that I wanted answers to, and then the try to find a solution myself. What could be more exciting?

A couple of years ago, the Canada-Wide Science Fair people got in touch with me to find out if I would be willing to talk to young students coming up through the science fair system. I don’t think they realized that I literally had nothing to do with science since leaving high school (whoops). But I think as the Google Science Fair ethos shows, what I’m doing now – writing, reading, asking questions – isn’t so far away from what they’re asking. And that’s probably what I liked most about science fairs, that blend of scientific method with pure creativity.

Plus, I edit science fiction now: does that count?

Giveaway! Wither & Fever by Lauren DeStefano

To celebrate the launch of my Facebook author page, and also because I’m agonisingly close to that 400 follower mark on Twitter, I’ve decided to host my first ever blog giveaway! It will be the first, I’m sure, of many to come.

It also happens to be the launch week of Fever by Lauren DeStefano here in the UK, so I’m giving away a copy to a lucky blog reader! Alongside will be the new UK pb of Wither, the first book in Lauren’s amazing The Chemical Garden trilogy.

Since I clearly have a vested interest in these amazing novels, I won’t be reviewing them. However, with each book I give away I’m going to write a little something about what that book means to me – either how I came upon it, or a story around its publication.

A story of Wither

On my first day as assistant editor for Voyager, I was handed a stack of manuscripts to read to get me up to speed with the list. Overwhelmed by this treasure trove of fiction, I scanned the first few pages of each to choose which one to start with. When I came to Wither (which was then just a lot of sheets of A4 held together with an elastic band and went by another title), I knew I had to read the whole thing then and there. Can I just tell you that if you are an aspiring author wanting to know how to write a first chapter that grabs – no, demands - an editor’s (or a reader’s) attention, then you can do no better than the opening of Wither. Lauren’s prose is absolutely stunning, and the opening ends with a real bang! The rest of the book doesn’t disappoint, and it remains one of the most outstanding examples of dystopian YA literature that I’ve read to date.

To enter, simply ‘like’ me on Facebook by clicking the like button on the left-hand side of the page, or by visiting the page and clicking ‘like’:

Amy McCulloch on Facebook

Or add me on twitter:

@amymcculloch

And you’re entered! If you’re already my friend on FB or Twitter and still want to be in to win, just RT or leave a comment to this blog post. The contest is open internationally and will end at midnight GMT on February 24, 2012.

Good luck!

The music of writing and the third movement of Moonlight Sonata

The past couple of months since discovering that The Oathbreaker’s Shadow is finally going to become a real book have been challenging — writing-wise, that is! I’ve been finding it hard to just sit down and start writing the sequel, especially when I worry about the pressure of creating another work that betters (or, let’s face it, even equals!) the first.

But today I told myself to stop procrastinating and get down to some real work — and, horrah! The first chapter of what is very-tentatively-titled The Unbreakable Vow is now written. (I have to give all my work a title, it makes it feel more real!)

What helped me to get in the groove was tuning in to one of my old favourite playlists on iTunes, one that I hadn’t listened to in quite sometime. It’s made up of a mix of classical, more modern instrumental, movie soundtracks and indie music, most of it as word-free as possible, but varying in drama and tone.

There’s always one song, however, that always stops me in my tracks. I should probably remove it from my playlist, as it’s not exactly the most conducive to productivity, but I leave it in because I find it so inspiring. I play piano to a decent level (Grade 8 in Royal Conservatory of Music terms), and this piece just stops my heart with its complexity and beauty. It reminds me that there is so much to achieve, and so many different levels to attain, that even if I never get there, it’s still worth trying – one word, or one note, at a time. It also proves that sometimes the second, or in this case third, movement of a work can far exceed the first :

What piece of music inspires you?

Facebook

In an effort to get all of my social networks linked up and talking to one another, while not bombarding my friends with bookish-related news, I’ve set up a Facebook author page!

There should be a ‘like box’ on the side bar in the corner, or else click on the link here to get to the page:

http://www.facebook.com/amymccullochbooks/

 

Born to Run: ultra-running and ultra-writing

Okay, so when I said last post that I’d had a ‘word-free’ holiday, I might have lied atinybit. But you didn’t really believe me anyway, did you?

I read the remarkable Born to Run by Christopher McDougall while on holiday. It’s not the kind of book I normally read, but I absolutely loved it. It’s the story of one man’s quest to discover why he was getting so injured while running, even though he wore all the latest high tech running shoes, consulted the best doctors and podiatrists, and followed all the training advice to the letter. When he heard about a tribe of people in Mexico known as the Tarahumara – who long-distance run their whole lives mostly without complaint – he travelled to the Copper Canyons to try and discover their secret.

Of course, being the easily infuenced person that I am, immediately after finishing the book I wanted to become an ultra-marathon runner! One step at a time of course, and the marathon is first! But it did get me to thinking about other ‘extremes’ – what would extreme writing look like, for example? Does anyone have any ‘ultra-writing’ stories they’ve heard from or about famous authors?

Probably the best example of ‘extreme writing’ that I’ve ever read about has stuck with me since high school: Victor Hugo’s writing of Notre-Dame de Paris. I went through a rather extreme French literature-loving phrase after I lived in the south of France for three months on student exchange, and I could consistently be found in the hallways of my high school, back up against my locker, nose in a dog-eared copy of Les Misérables or L’Etranger. (Yes, I admit to being a pretentious teen!) But back to Monsieur Hugo… check out this passage from Victor Hugo: His Life and Work by A. F. Davison:

Thus, with five and a half months before him, Hugo set himself in grim earnest to write Notre-Dame de Paris. Purchasing a large bottle of ink and a thick wollen jersey, he locked away all his clothes to avoid any temptation of going out, and sat down to his writing-table, which he never left except to eat or sleep.
At first it was weary work, this hermit-like seclusion and the oppressive sense of a struggle against time. But soon the author grew into his creation and lived in his characters, becoming insensible to fatigue or cold and working eagerly on with windows wide open to the wintry air. On January 14 the last line was written, the last drop of ink dried up, and Hugo felt as sorry to part with his book as he had been reluctant to begin it. 

I think that’s definitely a story of ‘ultra-writing’ if I’ve ever heard one. But the part that stuck with me the most, is that at the end of his writing marathon, he was so taken by the coincidence that he had written the last word of his book with his very last drop of ink, that he wanted to title the novel: Ce qu’il y a dans une bouteille d’encre (“What there is in a bottle of ink”). Genius.

Quiet on the blog front

It might be quiet on the blog front this week, as I’m heading off to Sauze d’Oulx for a week of skiing!

I do have a blog scheduled over with The Lucky 13s on Thursday, so be sure to head over there to check out my ode to my writing partner.

See you next week!

Obligatory signing photo

Yep, today is a pretty awesome day.

Not only is it four years since Lofty & I first met in New Zealand (happy anniversary gorgeous!), but it is also the day I signed and sent off my contract to RHCB! Yup, it’s all totally official and legit now. Gulp!

To mark the occasion (in very newbie author fashion, but hey, you’re only a debut author once, right?!) I took some photos:

Mid-signing

The Oathbreaker's Shadow now officially does not belong to me! haha.

 

The Legacy of Eden

People always laugh when I say I’m a writer and my day job is in publishing. They ask if everyone in publishing secretly wants to be a writer. Sort of like a ‘those who can’t do, teach’ thing – ‘those who can’t write, edit’.

Now, I know plenty of people who work in publishing who have no aspirations to write a novel. When I got my book deal, a very senior editor told me that she could never write a book – that she knew she had good instincts around how to make a book better (and I think her many grateful authors would concur!) but that she had no desire to devise a plot or characters herself.

But of course I also know plenty of people who do write and work in publishing, and they do it with tremendous success. And why not? Working in publishing is so notoriously underpaid that most of us do it for the love of a good word – and I always feel blessed to get to work in an industry where I’m constantly surrounded by people who love and care about the products they’re producing. As for me, I never allowed myself to believe that my writing could be anything more than just a hobby, but I still wanted to work in an environment that supported my second favourite thing to do after writing – reading! So publishing was a natural fit.

This is a very roundabout way to tell you about a novel by an absolutely brilliant young woman in publishing, Nelle Davy. She works for my literary agency and had a huge hand in bringing The Oathbreaker’s Shadow up to scratch. It was great to have someone who had just gone through much the same experience as me – including the peculiar kind of agony that comes from knowing too much about the inner workings of publishing when your book is on submission! – and I’m sure I will be bugging her lots as my publication day approaches!

Her novel, called The Legacy of Eden, is a retelling of I, Claudius set in the American mid-west. The reviews pouring in are astounding and the book is out on Thursday in the UK (and was out yesterday in the US).

Order it now on Amazon.co.uk
Order it now on Amazon.com 

“To understand what it meant to be a Hathaway you’d first have to see Aurelia.”

For generations, a grand estate house was the crowning glory of over three thousand acres of Iowa farm land and golden corn fields. Named Aurelia, it was a monument to matriarch Lavinia Hathaway’s dream to elevate the family name–no matter what relative or stranger she had to destroy in the process. It was a desperation that wrought the downfall of the Hathaways- and the once prosperous farm.

Now the last inhabitant of the decaying old home has died–alone. None of the surviving members of the Hathaway dynasty want anything to do with the house, the land or the memories. Especially Meredith Pincetti. Now living in New York City, for seventeen years Lavinia’s youngest grandchild has tried to forget everything about her family and her past. But with the receipt of a pleading letter, Meredith is again thrust into conflict with the legacy which destroyed her family’s once-great name.

Back at Aurelia, Meredith must confront the rise and fall of the Hathaway family…and her own part in their mottled history.

One of the most eagerly anticipated debuts of the year.