Better Than Dead

Random quote of the day:

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write.  Let them think you were born that way.”

—Ernest Hemingway, quoted in With Hemingway by Arnold Samuelson

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

To actually participate in this poll, you can go to my Livejournal blog.

Are writers always selling somebody out, telling the family secrets and passing it off as fiction, portraying someone they’ve known as a jerk to get revenge, or otherwise Spilling the Beans?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Spilling the beans.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Are writers always selling somebody out?

● I think that’s more true of literary fiction than genre fiction.
● Sure. Writers always have hidden agendas. They just tell people it’s all made up.
● No. It’s all just fiction, part of the creative process.
● Too much personal history in fiction is so transparent no one will buy it/want to read it.
● Unless you make it really salacious and it’s well-written.
● Or just really salacious sometimes.
● Sometimes it’s disguised personal business, sometimes it’s all made up.
● Good fiction always has a grain of truth in it so people can relate to it.
● But the art in fiction comes in making it universal rather than deeply personal.
● Whether it’s personal or not most readers assume it’s personal.
● Ticky never did mind about the little things.
● Other.

Random quote of the day:

“That is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out.”

—Joan Didion, preface to Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays of Joan Didion

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Jo Graham has written a beautiful encapsulation of what it takes (and what it means) to want to be a professional writer, above and beyond everything else you may hear about it.

Random quote of the day:

“Kafka had this word over his desk: WARTEN (WAIT).  Every writer must learn to do that while the unconscious works and underground forces prevail.  Maybe countries have to do that too.”

—Erica Jong, “Tears and Fears,” The Huffington Post, January 9, 2008

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

The Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen authors (poets included) who’ve influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag at least fifteen friends, including me, because I’m interested in seeing what authors my friends choose.

(Please, do this if you like..)

These are the first fifteen off the top of my head.  I’m sure I’ve left someone(s) vital out.  Some of these are “for better or worse” (I won’t say which ones); others I no longer read all that much, but they definitely influenced who I am as a writer.  They stay with me forever in that way, even if I don’t read them anymore.

1. Rosemary Sutcliff
2. Carlos Casteneda
3. Mary Stewart
4. Charlaine Harris
5. W. B. Yeats
6. Carl Sandburg
7. Kage Baker
8. Andre Norton
9. Anne Rice
10. Peter Beagle
11. Karl Shapiro
12. Edna O’Brien
13. Charles de Lint
14. Billy Collins
15. John Fowles

Maybe the picture behind the cut will give you a better clue.

(more…)

For health reasons, Albert Camus spent several months in the winter and spring of 1942-43 at Panelier, near Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, where the altitude approaches 3000 feet.  From Notebooks, 1942-1951, translated by Justin O’Brien:

Panelier.  Before sunrise, above the high hills, the fir trees are not distinguishable from the rolling ground on which they stand.  Then the sun from a great distance behind them gilds the crest of the trees.  Hence against the but slightly faded background of the sky they look like an army of feathered savages rising over the hill.  Gradually, as the sun rises and the sky brightens, the fir trees grow larger and the barbarian army seems to move forward and become more compact in a tumult of feathers before the invasion.  Then, when the sun is high enough, it suddenly lights up the fir trees, which pour down the slope of the mountains.  And it seems like a wild race toward the valley, the outbreak of a brief and tragic battle in which the barbarians of daylight will drive out the fragile army of nocturnal thoughts.

Random quote of the day:

“Altogether, the style of a writer is a faithful representative of his mind; therefore, if any man wishes to write a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and, if any should write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul, and live a noble life.”

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quoted in Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann, entry for April 14, 1824

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

This was making the rounds back in early June.  It may have been “an outgrowth of the Wiscon Periodic Table of Women in SF,” as someone put it when I glommed this from them. It strikes me as being rather light in the loafers for urban fantasy writers and I don’t believe paranormal romance is listed at all. So I’ve added some authors (in red) off the top of my head and the TBR pile (which means I’ve probably left out obvious examples—I didn’t want to make it a life’s work).  Not all of them are UF/PR. I haven’t listed male/female author teams (like the fabulous Ilona Andrews) since this list is supposed to be all about the females.  I welcome others to add to the list and pass it on if they feel like it.

The Rules of the Game Are:
Bold the women by whom you own books
Italicize those by whom you’ve read something of (short stories count).
*Star those you don’t recognize
Unmarked are those whose work you have not read

Joan Aiken
Ann Aguirre/Eva Gray
Eleanor Arnason*
Kelley Armstrong
Catherine Asaro
Sarah Ash
Ellen Asher*
Margaret Atwood
Camille Bacon-Smith*
Kage Baker
Elizabeth Bear
Elaine Bergstrom/Marie Kiraly
Anne Bishop
K. J. Bishop*
Leigh Brackett
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Patricia Briggs
Meljean Brook
Lois McMaster Bujold
Emma Bull
Sue Burke
Octavia E. Butler
Pat Cadigan
Rachel Caine
Jacqueline Carey
Jayge Carr*
Gail Carriger
Angela Carter
Jeanne Cavelos
Karen Chance
Joy Chant*
Suzy McKee Charnas
C. J. Cherryh
Susanna Clark
Kresley Cole
Nancy A. Collins
Storm Constantine
Louise Cooper*
Susan Cooper
Joan Cox*
Kathyrn Cramer
Elizabeth Cunningham
Kara Dalkey
Ellen Datlow
Lori Devoti
Amanda Downum
Debra Doyle*
Tanarive Due
Rosemary Edghill/Eluki bes shahar
Kate Elliott
Carol Emshwiller
Jane S. Fancher
Sheila Finch*
Lynn Flewelling
Karen Joy Fowler
Esther Friesner
Jeaniene Frost
Diana Gabaldon
Mary Gentle
Laura Anne Gilman
Lisa Goldstein
Kathleen Ann Goonan*
Theodora Goss
Jo Graham
Nicola Griffith*
Lauren Groff
Eileen Gunn
Barbara Hambly
Laurell K. Hamilton
Elizabeth Hand
Lori Handeland
Charlaine Harris
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Zenna Henderson*
Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Nancy Holder*
Nalo Hopkinson
Sarah A. Hoyt/ Sarah D’Almeida/Elise Hyatt
Tanya Huff
Kij Johnson
Diana Wynne Jones
Gwyneth Jones*
Leigh Kennedy*
Kay Kenyon
Caitlin Kiernan
Rosemary Kirstein*
Ellen Klages
Elizabeth Kostova
Mary Robinette Kowal
Nancy Kress
Katherine Kurtz
Ellen Kushner
Madeline L’Engle
Margo Lanagan*
Justine Larbelestier
Deborah Layne*
Sharon Lee*
Tanith Lee
Ursula Le Guin
Anna Leonard*
Kelly Link
Jane Linskold
Marjorie M. Liu
Elizabeth A. Lynn*
Katherine MacLean*
Ardath Mayhar*
R. A. MacAvoy
Anne McCaffrey
Shawna McCarthy
Sandra McDonald
Maureen McHugh
Vonda N. McIntyre
Patricia A. McKillip
R. M. Meluch*
Farah Mendlesohn*
Judith Merril*
Stephenie Meyer
Barbara Michaels
Laura Mixon*
Judith Moffett*
Mary Anne Mohanraj
Elizabeth Moon
C. L. Moore
Cheryl Morgan*
C. E. Murphy
Pat Murphy*
Jill Myles
Vera Nazarian
Edith Nesbit (E. A. Nesbit)*
Andre Norton
Naomi Novik
Rebecca Ore*
Rachel Pollack*
Cherie Priest
Sarah Prineas
Cat Rambo
Marta Randall*
Kit Reed*
Laura Resnick
Ann Rice
M. Rickert
Justina Robson
Michaela Roessner*
J. K. Rowling
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Joanna Russ
Mary Doria Russell
Lilith Saintcrow
Jessica Amanda Salmonson*
Pamela Sargent*
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough*
Melissa Scott*
Ekaterina Sedia
Nisi Shawl*
Delia Sherman
Frances Sherwood
Sharon Shinn
Kristine Smith*
Sherwood Smith
Wen Spencer
Nancy Springer
Margaret St. Clair*
Caroline Stevermer*
Mary Stewart
Maggie Stiefvater
Judith Tarr
Sheri S. Tepper
Amy Thomson*
James Tiptree, Jr.
Karen Traviss
Mary Turzillo*
Lisa Tuttle*
Catherynne M. Valente
Ann VanderMeer
Elizabeth Vaughan
S. L. Viehl
Joan D. Vinge
Evangeline Walton
Jo Walton
Martha Wells*
Skyler White
Kate Wilhelm
Eileen Wilks
Liz Williams
Sheila Williams*
Connie Willis
Terri Windling
Patricia C. Wrede
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Jane Yolen