Lisa Manterfield

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February 12, 2016 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

How Do You Know When a Book is Finished?

IMG_3160Michelangelo is quoted as saying that a work of art is never finished, merely abandoned.

But there are degrees of doneness and the trick is to know when to let go and when to go back and make improvements. And yet, at some point you have to call a project “done.”

Last year I completed my novel, The Smallest Thing. It went through many drafts of full and partial rewrites, including a couple with a story development editor, two rounds of Beta readers, and the sharp and unforgiving eye of a line editor. I was very proud to be able to send the book out into the world.

And yet, already I feel as if I’ve outgrown that project. I’m constantly working on my craft—through seminars, books, and workshops, as well as hours logged “practicing” putting words on a page—and I know I’m a more mature writer now than I was a year ago. It’s so tempting to go back into the book and make improvements.

Writers are our own worst critics and I know I am capable of tinkering with that book for the rest of my life. I know because I’m still tinkering with the first novel I ever wrote, still knowing it can be the book I first envisioned. But this time I’m resisting.

My book is out looking for an agent and I’ll know soon enough what work still needs to be done, because there will always be work that needs to be done. I think the answer to knowing when a book is truly done is this: When you sign off on the final print proof and relinquish your right to keep tinkering with it.

So for now, I’m moving forward with my next project and, for the time being, I’m calling The Smallest Thing finished.

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: Author, complete, edit, novel, YA Leave a Comment

February 9, 2016 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

Exciting News from the San Francisco Writers Conference

1-SFWC-9-29-10I’m off the San Francisco this week for the San Francisco Writers Conference. Aside from getting to spend four days in one of my favorite cities, I’m also looking forward to getting out of my writer cave and, well, spending the weekend in an even bigger writer cave. But seriously, there’s a special energy that happens when you put 400 or so writers together to talk about the thing they’re most passionate about. It should be an inspiring weekend.

I’m especially excited about attending this year as my novel, The Smallest Thing, was chosen as a finalist in the SFWC Writing Contest. I’ll find out on Friday how it fared, so I’ll keep you posted. Fingers crossed.

I’ll be posting updates around social media throughout the weekend, so if you’d like to stay in touch, here’s where you can find me:

Facebook: AuthorLisaManterfield

Twitter: @lisamanterfield

Instagram: @lmanterfield

So, all that’s left is for me to pack my newly purchased “author clothes” (because apparently showing up to a conference in “writer clothes”—aka yoga pants and slippers—isn’t acceptable) and be on my way.

And, if you happen to be going to the conference this year, look me up. I’d love to say hello.

 

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: #SFWC16, Author, contest, san francisco writers conference Leave a Comment

January 29, 2016 - Lisa Manterfield 3 Comments

Rowing into the Unknown: The Genesis of a Novel

Grace Darling: Image courtesy of RNLI Grace Darling Museum
Grace Darling: Image courtesy of RNLI Grace Darling Museum

I’m starting a new novel project this month. I have a nugget of an idea, a main character with a story to tell, and a somewhat fuzzy cast of characters for her to encounter along the way.

Like my last novel, this idea was sparked by a piece of history that was significant to me as a child. In this case, it’s the story of Grace Darling, a young woman who, in 1838, became a national heroine when she saved the lives of nine shipwrecked people. I’m not trying to simply retell the story, even though it’s a good one. Instead, I’m playing around with bringing the scenario into present day and exploring what happens to a reluctant heroine. What would possess a teenage girl to risk her life to save other people? And how would her life change, for better and for worse?

Right now, I don’t have answers to any of these questions, but this is the really fun part of writing. I could take this nugget and follow it in 20 different directions, each resulting in a completely different book. What propelled her to get into that boat and start rowing? Was it love? Was it a desire for fame? Was she mad at her parents and wanted to make a point? I don’t know yet.

But as I start to dig for answers, my Grace is coming into focus. She’s no longer a lighthouse keeper’s daughter, but maybe she has an aunt who lives a solitary life in a decommissioned lighthouse. She has a brother, too, and a best friend, and she’s starting to tell me her history.

Where her story will go, I have no idea yet. Like Grace, I’m climbing in my writing boat and rowing out into the unknown. I can’t wait to see where I wash ashore.

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: fiction, grace darling, novel, story, YA 3 Comments

January 8, 2016 - Lisa Manterfield 9 Comments

My Dazzling Dozen Reads of 2015

As all the cool kids are putting out Top 10 lists, I thought I’d share my Top 10 books of 2015. The problem is I read so many good books last year, I couldn’t narrow it down to ten. So, instead, here is my Dazzling Dozen:

The Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins
This book absolutely lives up to the hype. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the different voices the readers brought to the story. The protagonist, Rachel, could be any woman. She’s had her problems and made poor choices that make her unreliable, both as the narrator of this story and as a witness to the murder she uncovers. Despite her deeply flawed character, I couldn’t help but root for her, and yet she continues to sabotage herself and make progressively worse choices, until I found myself begging her not to screw up again. Yes, perhaps the ending is a little predictable, but it’s also hugely satisfying, and the ride to get there is nail biting.

All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
This was perhaps the most beautiful book I read this year, worthy of its Pulitzer Prize and a second read. Set in World War II France, it follows the stories of Marie-Laure, a young blind girl evacuated to the coast with her father, and Werner, a German orphan recruited to a Hitler Youth academy. Doerr weaves their stories together so deftly, offering glimmers of connection until their paths ultimately intercept. Add in the mystery of the missing jewel, the stunning image of the perfect scale model Marie-Laure’s father builds to help her navigate her new home, and the brutal details of war, and this book is as close to perfect as any I’ve read in a long time.

Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel
I fell in love with this book on page one. It’s beautifully written and brilliantly intriguing. Mandel switches effortlessly between the points-of-view of several characters and takes us back and forth in time, weaving together both strange and familiar worlds, so that the book is impossible to categorize. Is it science fiction? Is it a gentle tale of aging and regret? Is it a literary insight into the impact of art on a destroyed society? The answer is yes; it’s all these and more.

I knew from reading the back cover that all these stories would somehow intertwine, but I’d read more than 75 percent of the book before the threads began to converge and it wasn’t until the final few chapters that everything slid perfectly into place. I don’t often reread books, but this is one I wanted to read again as soon as I finished, to go back and pick up all the clues and details I missed the first time.

How to Build a Girl
Caitlin Moran
I loved this book, but am reluctant to recommend it to many people. To call Moran irreverent is an understatement and she pulls no punches in this tale of her teenage protagonist’s odyssey from Midlands council estate to indie music journalist. It’s a gritty coming-of-age story about a teenage girl so ashamed of who she is that she reinvents herself, adopting not just a new name, but a new edgier, more daring, more dangerous persona. Just as she thinks she’s built the ultimate girl in “Dolly Wilde” it all comes crashing down.  The jacket copy reads “Image The Bell Jar written by Rizzo from Grease” and I think that’s the perfect description for this painfully funny read.

The Rosie Project
Graeme Simsion
Socially inept Don Tillman is a total pain, and yet I fell for him on page one of his project to find a wife. An accomplished geneticist, Don applies science to his quest for love by employing a detailed profiling system for eliminating inappropriate dates. So when Rosie, a bartender on a mission to identify her biological father, stumbles into his office, attraction doesn’t even enter Don’s mind. In fact, he’s the only person who can’t see that they are perfect for one another. I loved Simsion’s humor and wry observations, and I found myself laughing the loudest when I saw myself in Don’s nerdy character.

A God in Ruins
Kate Atkinson
Atkinson is one of my favorite authors and this book is a devastating companion to her wonderful (and highly recommended) Life After Life. Leaping back and forth in time and between characters, as only Atkinson can, we follow the life of Teddy, World War II bomber pilot, father, grandfather, and reluctant subject of the fictional Tales of Augustus. Atkinson explores family truths and redemption. Her impeccably researched war stories are poignant and harrowing, and her detailed portraits of unforgettable characters are meticulous. I’m anxiously awaiting her next project and may have to go back to Behind the Scenes at the Museum to reread everything while I wait.

The Invention of Wings
Sue Monk Kidd
I listened to this on audiobook, so I got the benefit of the reader bringing Handful and Sarah to life. It’s the story of a wealthy southern girl and the slave she’s given as a gift on her eleventh birthday. But neither of these young women is prepared to follow the expected rules of their roles. This tale is full of texture and tactile descriptions, as well as being a riveting tale. It’s also based on real events.

The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus
Richard Preston
I read this book as research for my novel The Smallest Thing and it blew me away. Truth is definitely stranger—and more frightening—than fiction. It’s a great mix of science, history and personal stories. An excellent reminder of the fragile balance of nature and our ecosystems.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Karen Joy Fowler
I was immediately pulled into this story of Rosemary, a young woman revisiting her childhood and the disappearance of her beloved sister, Fern. But as the book unfolds, it’s revealed that Fern was not a human child, but a chimpanzee, and the sisters and their brother were part of a bizarre experiment by their scientist parents to raise humans and chimps together. Based on true events, this heart-wrenching (I cried) and humorous story explores the meaning of family and the thin line that exists between humans and apes.

Feet in the Clouds: A Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession
Richard Askwith
Under the category of “Mad dogs and Englishmen” this is the book that got me lacing up my running shoes again and committing to a half marathon. It’s part history of the uniquely British sport of fell-racing (running up and down mountains (fells) at impossible speeds) and the author’s introduction to the sport and his subsequent obsession with completing the illustrious “66 miles in 24 hours” Bob Graham Round. It’s funny, inspiring, and full of colorful, larger-than-life characters, plus it transported me to some of my favorite parts of the British Isles.

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance
Jonathan Evison
I’m not even sure how I stumbled upon this book, but I’m glad I did. It’s sort of a cross between The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry as it follows the title character on her odyssey of self-discovery. After the death of her husband, Harriet’s children want to move her to a care facility, but Harriet is determined to go on the cruise her husband won but never got got to take. As she moves tentatively out her her small world, Harriet sees her whole life from a different angle, and it’s not always pretty. The story jumps in short chapters between 78-year-old Harriet and versions of her younger self. It’s funny, heart-warming, and thought-provoking.

The Martian
Andy Weir
I listened to the audiobook after seeing the movie, so I had the benefit of knowing what happens! And of course, the book trumps the movie, which is no small feat. I loved the humor the author brings to the main character and to the supporting cast. I also geeked out on the science and calculations he used to figure out how to rig his survival. Check out the story of how this book came about and how the author went from publishing chapters on his blog and being persuade by fans to self-publish a book, to catapulting to the top of the bestseller lists and the subsequent blockbuster movie.

So far, I have a short list of books to read in 2016. If you have a book you loved, please share it in the comments.

Happy 2016 and happy reading.

Filed Under: Book Love Tagged With: 2015, books, review, top 10 9 Comments

July 16, 2015 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

Getting to the Heart of Reimagined Stories

I love reimagined stories, everything from Fractured Fairytales and Wishbone to Baz Luhrmann’s dark retelling of Romeo and Juliet and Seth Grahame-Smith’s twisted Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

I also love dance, and one of my favorite “reimagineers” is Matthew Bourne, who’s taken stories such as Swan Lake and Edward Scissorhands and given them his own unique twist. So I couldn’t believe my luck on my recent trip home when Bourne’s The Car Man was playing at my hometown theatre. I was dying to see how he would reimagine Bizet’s classic tale of passion, jealousy, and loyalty. I grabbed a couple of tickets and my mother, and went to see for myself.

Bourne set his story in a 1960s Italian-American community, and while it contained many of the story elements and characters from the original opera, and was set to Bizet’s music, Bourne twisted the story to make it his own. His Don Jose is a shy trainee mechanic who gives up his sweetheart (and ultimately his freedom) for the seductive Car Man, a handsome stranger who wanders into town. The Car Man in turn seduces a second “Carmen”, the alluring young wife of the garage owner. Needless to say, mayhem ensues and the story is full of twists and surprises. Even so, the heart of Carmen remains, and Bourne’s story is still ultimately about passion, jealousy, and loyalty.

You can hear Matthew Bourne talk about his inspiration in this interview.

I’ve been thinking about reimagined stories a lot as I dive into editing my novel. Although it was inspired by real events in history, which I wrote about in this post, not much more than the name of the village, some characters, and the kernel of the original story remain. Still, I hope that, like Bourne, in adapting the tale to tell my own story, I’ll succeed in keeping intact the heart of the original story that I loved so much.

Do you have a reimagined story that you love? If so, how close does it come to the original?

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: adapt, car man, carmen, dance, matthew bourne, novel, story Leave a Comment

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