The second book of the Hunger Games trilogy is, much like the first, a quick read. It doesn’t have quite the page turning suspense of the first book, but it does dig deeper into the world that Suzanne Collins has created.
I had a few thoughts as I read… I try not to give away any specific spoilers, but if you haven’t read this, you might want to stop here.
The closer you watch your inbox, the less email you get.
It is known.
Neil Gaiman recently posted an interview on his blog that he did with Stephen King. If you’re a fan of King or Gaiman or both (like me!), it’s worth a read.
It only reinforces my opinion that if I could live the old cliche of having dinner with any four people, both these men would be sitting at my table.
I picked up this book for two reasons: First, one of the stories is by Barbara Ashford who will be one of the guest lecturers at Odyssey and I’ve been trying to get at least a taste of the writing of each guest lecturer who will be there, and secondly, because I’m still desperately searching for a ‘favorite short story’ which is one of the things I’m required to bring to Odyssey (I always have “Sand Kings” as a fall back, but I’d like to come up with something a little more obscure.)
After Hours is a collection of short stories with a common element–they all include a bar which mystically appears in various settings throughout time (from ancient Rome or viking ruled Scandinavia to a near-future zombie infested post-apocalypse) run by an immortal bar-keep (as long as he stays in the bar). So as far as setting goes, there’s a little something for everyone. The bar is not always the centerpiece of the stories, in some it only appears in passing, but it is present in every story.
There wasn’t any story that I will be taking to Odyssey with me, but I enjoyed them all. My favorites were “Sake and other Spirits” by Maria V. Snyder set in feudal Japan, “The Alchemy of Alcohol” by Seanan McGuire set in San Francisco in the early 1900s, “Steady Hands and a Heart of Oak” by Ian Tregillis set in London during WW2, and “Where We Are Is Hell” by Jackie Kessler which takes place entirely in the bar.
My main take away from this book was an idea, or really, an exercise. It was apparent from how certain aspects (Gil, the bartender and the circumstances of the bar) stayed completely consistent from story to story that these ‘rules’ were set in stone for the authors. It’s not hard to pick them out as they are present in every story (Gil always had dark hair and a beard and a faint accent that you can’t quite place). So, taking those and imagining that I was asked to write a story for this anthology that ‘follows the rules’ what would I write? Where, and when, would it be set? My first thoughts were South America, perhaps Chile which I know best, during or just after the Pinochet coup, or maybe the early, ‘wild’ days of Australia.
I think I might give it a try sometime.
Next up: I’m halfway through “Catching Fire”, i.e. Hunger Games 2.
45 days from now, I step out of the door for my long drive to Odyssey. I find myself starting to get nervous about what I see as my biggest obstacle. It’s not ‘can I write?’ because I’ve never written for anyone other than myself. If I’m never published it will be disappointing but not the end of the world.
No, my biggest fear is ideas and how I will get them. Will I be able to keep up with the breakneck pace of the workshop? Not in the amount of writing, I’m pretty confident that I can do that, but in the generation of ideas that I want to write about in the first place.
A little bit about how I write and, specifically, where I get ideas and what I do with them (I’d love to hear how you approach too). I found a blog by Bill Blais on which he wrote about his impressions of ReaderCon in 2009 (link). One of the panelists which he wrote about was Elaine Isaak (who will also be one of the guest instructors at Odyssey this year):
Elaine Isaak … described herself as a muse-driven writer in her early career, and Odyssey taught her that waiting for the muse is no way to survive.
That’s me! I’ve never heard it put so accurately, but that’s what I am–a ‘muse-driven writer’. Fellow future Odyssey classmate, Vern James, wrote a post today (link) comparing ideas to seeds that need to be nurtured in order to grow. I don’t disagree, I tend to think of ideas as fossils thanks to Stephen King’s On Writing, but it amounts to the same thing – they are out there for the taking, you just need to do the work of nurturing them (or in King’s case, uncovering them).
But, that’s not enough for me.
There are an infinite number of ideas out there. The ground is littered with seeds, or fossils if you prefer. The problem is – they’re not all mine. I have to find a specific seed, one that gets deep into my soul, or it’s no good to me.
A year or so ago, after getting frustrated that I always came up with ideas either just before I fell asleep or while driving, I created an ‘idea book’ which sits on the night stand next to the bed and bought a small tape recorder which stays in my car. My idea book is full of ideas and the tape recorder has gotten constant use. The problem is, almost all of the ideas are worthless to me. An idea simply isn’t enough. It has to be an idea that resonates with me. It has to get into my head and refuse to let go until I write it. I look back at the ideas in my idea book and it’s almost as if someone else had written them – they don’t capture my imagination.
I’ve read in many places that to generate ideas, simply start with the question what if? The problem is, for me at least, that is only half the battle, and it’s the easy half. I can generate ‘what if’ scenarios all day long, but they’re no good to me unless they resonate, and it’s rare that they do.
So, as I sit here, 45 days from Odyssey, my second story written and sent, hoping that my muse will strike again before it’s time to go. I worry about how I will generate three or four (or more) ideas in a six week span that I will want to write about once I am there. I’ll be sure to ask Ms. Isaak how she overcame this problem, but I’d really like to have a solution before I get there.
Is this a problem that you have, or do you have a way to generate ideas that you can write about without waiting for the muse to strike you? I’d love to hear it. I think Ms. Isaak is correct–my current method of waiting for the muse to strike is no way to survive.
