squeetus

Tweeting: a 4 week retrospective

A few weeks ago, I was with a group of Utah book bloggers, and they dared me to start tweeting. And since I'm easily swayed by peer pressure and have no spine of my own, I said, "OK!" Here are my initial thoughts:

• I've tweeted 23 times. That's not a tremendous amount, and I don't expect to become a superstar of Twitter. But that's all I want to do. I like to tweet when something occurs to me worth sharing, not get in the habit of doing it every few hours.
• I was shocked how quickly I had hundreds of followers. I don't have as many Twitter followers as I have daily blog readers, but it really spreads fast.
• I follow a couple dozen people and it's been interesting to see the different styles. I like the funny tweets best and the brief, informative flashes. I'm not interested in people's daily this-is-what-I'm-doing, and so I don't report that myself. I can see that some people might be interested, but, blah. Not my bag, baby.
• I can see how powerful Twitter can be. Instantaneous info broadcast and so easy to rebroadcast. Wow! You could form an army this way. I'm reminded of how Genghis Khan got information to spread throughout his horde. He would (this is true) form battle instructions into a song, using a tune everyone knew. His commanders would go ride alongside their men and sing the song until everyone learned it, then the horde would sing it over and over on the way to battle, and that way no one would forget. Imagine Twinkle Twinkle: "When we get to China town, do not dismount on the ground. Ride about and shoot your bow, till we've speared each last mean foe..." Hm, probably something a bit catchier... But anyway, with Twitter, you could spread word even faster! The Khan would be pleased.
• I was suspicious of Twitter initially because I'm allergic to contention and didn't want to involve myself in a mudslinging arena. It turns out, it's a really positive place. I don't think I've read a single negative tweet. People want to share funny and cool stuff and praise others for their content and achievements. Nice!
• I read through the tweets maybe once every other day at this point, and it takes me about five minutes, usually when I'm sitting waiting for something anyway. The time commitment hasn't been a burden.

So, all's well. I'm haleshannon because the reverse was taken, I didn't want to mess with hyphens, and I like how it sounds like a command. I'm willing to ride this Twitter beast awhile longer and see what places we can go together. I always like smart, positive communities, and so far, Twitter has been impressive.

A skunk cabbage by any other name...

Tonight (Tuesday) I'll be emceeing Brandon Mull's Fablehaven 5 release party, 6:30 pm, Cottonwood High School, Salt Lake City, Ut. I've never seen book events like what Shadow Mountain does for Fablehaven. They're amazing. They fill up a 2-3 thousand seater auditorium, so come early if you want a seat. It's so fun to see huge crowds excited about books!

Thursday, March 25, Dean, Nate, and I will be signing at the Orem Barnes & Noble, our first Utah Valley event for calamity jack! This may be the last joint event the three of us do, so come get a coveted triple-signed book. Please note that due to time constraints, there will be some signing limits. Dean, Nate, and I will happily sign and personalize all your copies of rapunzel's revenge and calamity jack. I will also sign all my other novels, but I will only personalize those books purchased that evening. I'm sorry to have to make that exception, but it is necessary this time.

Several commenters from the last post wanted to know about when I rename characters. I do it all the time. Often in my outlines, I won't even name characters, giving them designations like MC (main character) or F (friend), etc. When writing a first draft, I give characters the first name that pops into my head. I don't like to slow down the writing process name shopping for too long. Sometimes I'll keep that first name for the first draft, or several drafts, or forever. But other times, the name just doesn't feel right, and I'll do a search and replace.

Some examples:

Ani/Isi in goose girl was originally Talianna-Kiladra Anidori Isilee, and she went by Talia. When I renamed Selia, I liked her name so much I switched Ani's name around.

goose girl had lots of changes, but it wasn't until a few drafts in I decided to consult a medieval Germanic name list. Geric was originally named Wilder. I'm reusing the name Wilder currently in Daisy Danger Brown. Enna was Peta (reused that name in RS) and Razo was Rin (reused that too!). Rinna was Birch in river secrets until near the final draft. I liked Birch, but someone else didn't, I think my editor, so I went back to her brother's original name, which I'd liked so well but just hadn't fit him. I like that z in Razo.

Becky Jack had many different names. She was Jenny for awhile, and her husband Mike was Dave. Most of the names in the actor and the housewife changed. I used placeholder names until near the final draft, when I went through and somewhat randomly changed all the characters to names of my relatives. That was fun to do, though I still can't remember some of the characters' names because I sometimes still think of them by their originals. This book was my most extreme case of name changing.

I used placeholder names for all of princess academy until a few drafts in when I renamed them all using a list of old Scandinavian names. Except for Miri. I'd grown too attached to her name. To justify that she didn't have a traditional Scandinavian name, I said she was named after a flower, which I was able to develop into a nice metaphor for her. Change brings serendipity brings meaning!

I think my tendency to name change is ust indicative of how much I change when I write, and how I don't let myself get too attached to the way anything is in a first draft. I work in clay, not marble. Nothing that happens in my first drafts are inevitable. I wish they were! It'd make things a lot easier.

The unquiet creature in my computer

The battle is on! Each weekday (I think that's how it works) new results posted on SLJ's Battle of the (Kids') Books. Cheer your favs and lament those lost.  My own judging results will probably be up next week, or perhaps the week after. And the Exquisite Corpse Adventure continues on read.gov. M.T. Anderson's episode is the latest, soon to be followed by Linda Sue Park's. They are both too divine for words.

Still plucking away at the first draft of Midnight in Austenland. That book isn't under contract. It's nice for me to write in a void - no deadlines, no expectations...yet. I have no books with release dates. This is a huge relief to me, after the craziness of the last couple of years. The first draft of Daisy Danger Brown sits in its file, untouched since autumn. I think of her often. I will be very happy to return.

Here's something I've noticed about myself: I never consider a book written until I've finished the final draft. Sometimes I hear authors say, "I have seven unpublished books," and I say, "Wow! That's amazing!" Then I realize they mean first drafts. I never consider a first draft to be a "book." It is a first draft, nothing more. Maybe this is a safety mechanism in my brain. I can only tackle that horrid first draft by putting it in its own category.

I won't call it a book, I won't expect it to be anything so noble and complete-sounding. That would intimidate me. No, there's plenty of time to turn that mishmash of words and scenes and badly named characters (they usually get renamed) into a story worth labeling Book. For now, it is simply First Draft, neither art nor science. It's own species. A private creature, with transforming parts and drool and claws and lots of blinking eyes. Thank goodness it's shy and stays hidden in its muddy subterranean hole, or it might be considered a monster of Bedroom Closet proportions.

The amazing shrinking women...roles

Thanks for all your thoughtful comments on the last post. Many of you commented on the need for "strong female characters." Hey, I'm all for it, but what I hope for more than anything is real female characters, which would be a nice mix of all kinds of types and personalities, alongside real male characters. But, lamentably, all I'm gunning for at this point is any female characters. Kids notice gender. They notice that most of the characters on the screen are male. They absorb this and make decisions about the world and about themselves. I know I did.

Jessica notes that most animators are men and they naturally gravitate toward characters who are male.  I can understand that with regards to the main character. I'm a girl, I've written 10 books, and 8 of them have female main characters. But my books also have a lot of male characters. This isn't an effort for me. It would feel unnatural to only write girls. Boys are a part of this world. I like boys. I find them as interesting and worth writing about as girls. I have to believe that the men making movies feel the same way about those creatures of the opposite gender. So I don't understand the lack of female supporting characters. I'm honestly confused. Whatever the reason, and I think it's pointless to speculate on motives, the lack of cartoony girls is undeniable.

Now, having female-led movies for kids is always going to be a battle. We've been told that if Rapunzel's Revenge becomes a movie, we'd have to change the name and make Jack the main character.  It costs a lot of money to make a movie, especially an animated movie that takes years, hundreds of people, and tens of millions of dollars. Investors can't afford to take a chance on that. They usually go with what's proven to sell - male-led family movies.

Heather pointed out that the Japanese don't have this hang-up. The recent Ponyo is a great example of a cast that is rich in both male and female characters. But we poor Americans don't seem to get behind this. Recent movies that had multiple female characters didn't do well, like the fabulous Coraline and Princess and the Frog. There are plenty of male-led animated movies that haven't done well too, but there are far fewer female-led ones, and when those don't make money, Hollywood accountants blame the girls. And who knows, maybe they're right? (Oh, I hope they're not.)

But they examine the evidence. Here are a few of the highest grossing animated movies of all time:
Ice Age
Toy Story
Madagascar
Shrek
Finding Nemo
Up
Kung Fu Panda
Monsters, Inc.
Cars
Ratatouille
I have nothing against these movies. I adore many of them. But look at their male:female ratios. It's kind of shocking what we just accept as normal. Can you imagine a reverse? An Ice Age-type movie where every character (except one who dies at the beginning) is female? The same goes for Up. There's one female (a hippo) on the entire island of Madagascar. Kung Fu Panda (awesome movie) has two female warriors in it. Great! (neither, by the way, gets to be funny) But look at the ratio overall of named characters - I count it 10:2. Imagine a movie with 10 girls and 2 boys! And Ratatouille...I love you, Brad Bird, and everything you do with a passionate love, but there was one named female in the entire movie. Couldn't there have been a single female rat? I think in part this goes back to the "girls aren't funny" belief. Minor characters in animated movies are usually there for comic relief, and until girls are seen as having humor potential, they don't get to make up the supporting cast.

Some commenters mentioned Barbie movies as a resource for girl characters. Amen. And notice that they are all straight to video. (Side note: Mattel once expressed interest in making Princess Academy into a Barbie movie.)

I can't change the fact that most animators and Hollywood movie execs are men and naturally write and make stories about boys and men.  But it's that supporting cast that really bothers me. It feels unnatural, forced, to have 10 males per 1 or 2 females. I don't believe it. I don't like what it says to both my son and my daughter. I wish it would change.

And what changes things is money. Even more specifically: the Opening Weekend. That's all that really matters. If women and girls flood movie theaters the opening weekend in support of movies that are led by or even have a realistic ratio of female characters, those accountants will notice and things will change.

Also, ladies, any of you pining for a career in movie making or animation? You go, girls. You go.

Girls aren't funny and other life lessons

Just reading about Disney renaming their upcoming Rapunzel movie "Tangled" so that it won't seem "girly." Sales for Princess and the Frog weren't as high as they wanted, and they blame the word princess. The LA Times says, "The makeover of "Rapunzel" is more than cosmetic. Disney can ill afford a moniker that alienates half the potential audience, young boys, who are needed to make an expensive family film a success." Forget the girl audience. They'll watch anything. Unless a movie appeals to boys, it'll flop.

Is this true? Or is it a self-fulfilling policy?

I wonder. I wonder how many boys really refused to go see Princess and the Frog, or loudly protested, or claimed to hate it. I wonder if it doesn't go down that way at all. I wonder if instead we're to blame, we the mothers, we the parents. Are we predetermining what our sons will watch and enjoy? Preparing for a family movie night, do we look over the movies and decide that a "princess" movie won't please the boy child, so look for something else? I know I've talked about this before here, but this is something that deeply concerns me.

Take a look at the animated movies on your shelves. Pick up the ones produced in the last ten years or so. List the main 10 characters. What are their genders? The main character is almost surely male, but putting that aside, just list the supporting characters by gender. Shockingly, often the ratio will be 1:10 in favor of male. You might find 3:10 occasionally, unless it's The Incredibles, the rare exception. In the actual human and animal world, 50% of the population is female. But not in the animated world. How do they reproduce? One girl for every ten boys? Those poor animated creatures are going to go extinct! Females are so rare, you'd think the studios were making Reservoir Dogs for kids.

Now look at those rare girl characters. Are they funny? Unless it's Dori in Finding Nemo (in an ocean dangerously near extinction based on the lack of female aquatic life), the humorous characters are probably male. So many stereotypes we reinforce: girls aren't leaders, girls aren't important enough to be main characters, girls don't matter to the story, girls aren't interesting and they most certainly aren't funny.

Of course this isn't limited to animated movies: Batman, Superman, Ironman, Spiderman...where oh where is Wonder Woman? Thank goodness for X-Men. (Bless you, Chris Claremont!)

My call to arms. Mothers dear, don't let's do this. Don't let's raise our boys to only watch "boy" movies or only read "boy" books. They, just as much as our girls, need to accept and cheer girl heroes, need to believe girls to be interesting and worthwhile. The book world has no shortage of fascinating and varied girl characters, both leading and supporting. But the movie world over the past 10-20 years has slowly been weeding them out. And I don't blame Hollywood. Hollywood follows the money. We need to put our money where our mouth is. Support movies starring girls. Dads, your influence can be powerful here. Take your boys to see movies about girls and boys. Your little girls are watching. We can tell them all we want how wonderful and important they are, but kids learn by example. They believe what they see. So let's show 'em.

Contest winners abound in wit, skill, and good looks

The 2009 Cybils present a great list of reading material. I love the Cybils for how they balance high literary quality with entertainment and reader appeal. I hope to see this award continue for years to come and grow in prominence.

I'm a judge for the SLJ Battle of the Kids' books, and I've read my books, made my decision, and written my reasons. But I can't tell for a few weeks! (Ooh, now I have two secrets waiting to be revealed) Check out the brackets of contenders and judges, and vote for your favorite, giving it a chance to come back from the dead in the last round. Good fun.

And in all the life mania, I forgot to acknowledge the winner of the Rapunzel's Revenge book trailer contest! Yay Alysa! It was tough competition all around, but I think the humor and style pushed hers through. Well done. Please send me your mailing address at squeetus (at) g mail (dot) com. I'm slow, but I will get you your box o' books!

My kingdom for some time

Whew! I guess you can tell by my sparse posting lately that I've been busy. Life stuff, not worth going into. Usually I don't allow anything to get in the way of regular writing, but I've done very little in the past 3 weeks. It doesn't matter how many books I've published or how much fan mail I get, if I'm not writing regularly, I don't feel like a writer. I'm hoping this week I can get in a full 1000 words/day of Midnight in Austenland, with a goal to finish the first draft this month. 20k more words should do the trick. Then on to rewrites!

I'm going a little crazy because there are so many projects I want to work on, not the least of which is rewrites of Daisy Danger Brown. When shall I have the time? When oh when?

The California trip was wonderful. Dean and I have done appearances together locally, and then there was the Today Show stint, but this was our first tour together. It was amazing! Kids didn't come, and it was the first time since...forever, it seems, that we woke up in bed in the morning on our own, without little kids demanding breakfast and fleeing from diaper changes. I love sharing a stage with him, I love that this can be something we do together instead of my own little thing. Those shockingly familiar with our "interpretive movement" routine might have fled in terror from our performance at the Southern California Independent Bookseller's children's lit dinner. Lots of school visits and several cool bookstores, and the trip was all around great. My camera was on the fritz so I don't have photos to share, but my love to all the wonderful fans who came out!