Month: August 2018

Blog Hop: On Happiness

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop1 Comment

book-blogger-hop-finalToday’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Can you say this about yourself? Nothing makes me happier than sitting down with a good book.

Hmm.  This seems like the kind of pat statement that is a little true of a lot of people, and wholly true of not very many.  Sitting down with a good book makes me happy–there are times and moods when it will make me happier than anything else in that moment–but does nothing make me happier?

My husband makes me happier than a good book.  So does my family and my friends.  It makes me very happy when the opening orchestrations begin of Phantom of the Opera performed live on stage.  Writing at its best makes me happier than reading–though it also requires more energy, and at its most challenging causes me more frustration than reading.  Music is a good mood lift, and I have TV shows I like to watch when I’m stressed because they make me happy.  But it’s also true that reading brings happiness into my life, that finding a good book makes me very happy, and I’m not as happy in general if I’m not making time to read.

So I guess I’d say, there are times when nothing makes me happier than sitting down with a good book.  But there are many other things in life that have the potential to make me happier than even the best book.

Writing Wednesday: The Vicomte de Chagny

On By cherylmahoneyIn Writing4 Comments

In revisions for my Phantom trilogy, I’ve been working on the scene that introduces Raoul de Chagny, Christine’s love interest–one of them!  We see him through Meg’s eyes in my novel and…he probably doesn’t come off as well as he does in some versions!  Here are her initial impressions, which probably sum up my portrayal of him rather well.

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I was about to ask her directly if she was looking for someone, when her hand closed around my arm and I saw that her gaze had settled on the far end of the Dance Foyer.  “Do you know that man?  The one talking to Sorelli?”

This could be the answer to the question I hadn’t asked.  I looked for Sorelli in the direction of Christine’s gaze.  The lead ballerina was easy to spot in her vivid red gown, talking to two men dressed in somber grays.  The older one was a usual visitor to the Foyer, and with a little thought I recalled the younger man’s name too.  “That’s Philippe, the Comte de Chagny, and his younger brother the vicomte, Raoul.  The comte and Sorelli have been, you know, keeping company for years.”  Surely Christine couldn’t have been looking for him.

“But Raoul,” she said in a low voice, “what do you think about him?”

“I don’t, usually.  I guess he’s nice enough.”  Continue reading “Writing Wednesday: The Vicomte de Chagny” →

Book Review: Jane Unlimited

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Science Fiction4 Comments

I don’t often pick books up at random anymore, but I chanced to see an interesting title at the library the other day.  It turned out to be an excellent find: Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore.

Nineteen-year-old Jane is an orphan who recently lost her beloved Aunt Magnolia, who raised her.  Jane is unmoored and drifting when she bumps into Kiran, an old acquaintance, who on a whim invites Jane to come to Tu Reviens.  This is Kiran’s family estate, a mansion on a private island.  Jane doesn’t want to go, but her Aunt Magnolia made her promise to accept an invitation to Tu Reviens if it ever came.  It proves to be a mansion full of mysteries, and every person there has secrets.  Jane soon finds herself at a crossroads, a seemingly insignificant moment when she can choose which mystery to pursue.  Jane only can see one choice–at a time–but the reader gets to see what happens as each choice takes her down a completely different path, dividing the bulk of the book into five sections, each exploring a different direction.

This is a masterfully created book, and as a writer I am genuinely in awe at how Cashore pulled this off.  Each section of the book follows its own story, but it’s clear that all the elements from each section are happening in all of them–Jane just has different information, or sees different pieces.  Later sections still have references relevant to earlier ones, and early ones have clues that aren’t explained until later ones.  It’s incredible.

Equally as fun, I realized as I went through the book that each section is a different genre: mystery, spy thriller, horror, science fiction, and fantasy.  Each one is beautifully done, both for its genre and as part of a larger, cohesive whole.  The horror section was suitably horrifying, and the sci fi story added a little bit of meta explanation for the book’s structure–sort of. Continue reading “Book Review: Jane Unlimited” →

Blog Hop: Perchance to Dream

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop1 Comment

book-blogger-hop-finalToday’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Have you ever had a bookish, nocturnal dream? If so, please share the story. If not, have you ever had a daydream related to books? If so, please tell us about it.

I have always found it surprising how rarely I have dreams related to books, especially my own, considering how much waking time I spend thinking about them!  For the amount of time he spends in my thoughts, the Phantom of the Opera ought to stalk through my dreams on a regular basis, and yet I think he’s appeared…maybe twice?  In twelve years.  I can’t say with any certainty that I’ve ever dreamed about the characters or the world of my fairy tale quartet.  Other people’s books have not shown up any more often.

As for daydreams–well, most of my stories play out in my head before they ever get onto paper, and I don’t mean while I’m sitting in front of my computer.  The more clearly a scene is imagined, the easier it is when I start physically writing (because the imagining feels like a stage of writing).  Some imagined scenes never get written down, and I never feel a desire to imagine a scene after it’s written–it’s like it’s locked in place then, and there isn’t the same range for mental playing.

Considering how much I imagine consciously, I’ve always found it strange that my subconscious doesn’t utilize the same characters and settings.  And kind of a shame–I think that would be fun!

Do you have dreams inspired by books, once you’ve read or written?  Have you had daydreams even if you haven’t had sleeping ones?

Writing Wednesday: French Influence by Way of Mr. Dickens

On By cherylmahoneyIn Writing1 Comment

I didn’t read A Tale of Two Cities with the intention of researching for my Phantom novel, but it has turned out that way anyway.  Not a lot has been directly relevant, but it has added some definite shadings through reading the history.  The book is set about ninety years before my novel, but considering the French spent the intervening time having repeated revolutions and changes of government, it feels like it still has a lot of bearing for my characters’ experiences.

And there was one direct edit I made as a consequence of reading about the howling mobs depicted by Dickens.  The Phantom, you see, has a terror of falling into the hands of a mob, something mentioned in the very first scene told from his point of view.  After reading this book, I made some key edits.  Here’s the paragraph as it was before:

Any attack would be more complicated than a simple mob with pitchforks; France was a civilized country, but the result would be the same.  The end of a noose or even worse—a cage.  He was guilty of the crime of being different, the world had convicted him at birth, and he had ample precedent to suggest how they would sentence him.

And with edits:

Any attack would be more complicated than a raging mob with pikes; France was a civilized country, outside of her sporadic revolutions.  The result would be the same.  The guillotine or even worse—a cage.  He was guilty of the crime of being different, the world had convicted him at birth, and he had ample precedent to suggest how they would sentence him.

Small changes, but I feel good about them.  Also, weird historical note: I looked up the history of the guillotine to make sure it was still in use in 1881.  Turns out, it was France’s standard method of execution until 1981, when they ended capital punishment.  !!!  But maybe if I was French, that wouldn’t seem weird after all…