Historical (Regency) Novels & PREPARING!

My notes are very short on this genre, that's why I try to cover more topics in this post.

I) Historical (Regency) Novels
Historical novels became popular in the romantic period. Its characteristics includes the accuracy of details and language usage.
...
And this was it. Plus, books from this genre, e. g. Possession by A. S. Byatt, The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfield, Waterland by Graham Swift (which has parallel editing - there are 2 families' stories which are connected from time to time, by people's stories). Like this:

Looks interesting, doesn't it?


II) Preparation for NaNoWriMo
November is just around the corner and this year, I'm a co-ML of my region. And there're quite a few helpers, so we have manymany new things this year! For example, the 'HuNoWriMo' facebook page we made for our region('s Wrimos), which you can find on the right side of this page.
We're planning the Kick-off party, write-ins and other, online-events. It's so exciting!

As for my NaNo novel, this year, I'm writing it in Hungarian. I decided I change what language I write in, every year. I mean, one year it would be in English, the next in Hungarian, then English, then Hungarian, etc. You get the point.
I see some details quite clearly about the story, but then again, I should probably write a draft down to see how it looks and where I need to put some 'bridge' between two scenes. And to clear up a few things, as well. It's kinda... like a floating fog around my head right now.
It's going to be dark, (hopefully) frightening (horroristic?), and of course, the usual: supernatural elements and romance! And the line between darkness and light is blurred, again. Hmmm, I should really write down my ideas to clear it up!

Are you going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year? How do you prepare for it?

Utopias & Distopias

Continuing the series about the creative writing course which I attended a year ago, the next topic is about utopias and distopias.

They are about ideal (utopian) and non-ideal (distopian) societies. Distopias are always warnings. 

Most utopias deal with the meaning of life.

Who makes your decisions in your life?

                                                 /  \
                                       utopias  distopias

Individualistic utopias are, well, a mess, but collectivistic utopias are well-organized and can even overthrow dictatorships.

There are two kinds of utopias; 1) you don't have to work 2) you must work. If it's the former, then it deals with the meaning of life. What would you do with your life (if you didn't have to work)? For example it fits the description of 'heaven' in religions.

I gave an example for utopia from the Bible, but you can also find distopia there. Like Sodoma & Gomorrah.

...

For some reason we didn't have enough time for distopias, so I have a couple of books here listed and that's all. 1984 and The Brave New World. So let me talk about distopias from my experiences.

Everybody knows about 1984, even if they haven't read it. But not everybody knows it was inspired by a Russian novel, 'We'. It was written by Yevgeny Zamyatin, in 1920. It was published in New York, in several languages, before it could be published in Russian. 1988 was the year when it was finally released legally in the Soviet Union, in Russian.

Orwell was very inspired by this work and he wrote 1984 in 1948. So if you read both novels, that's why you might see some similarities.

I find it curious that while 1984 is world-wide famous, the story which inspired it isn't that well-known. 'We' became one of my favourite novels.

There's one more book I must mention. It's also a favourite; a young adult distopia, The Giver by Lois Lowry. I read it when I was around... 13? It's a bit hard read for a young teenager (I mean, emotionally - it's a bit dark and very serious), nonetheless, I still think it's one of the best books out there.

If you haven't read it already, I recommend you both The Giver and We. You won't be disappointed if you're looking for a good distopian read ;)

 ~~~

We have these topics left: Historical novels (Regency novels), Fairytales and Humor! Maybe I should challenge myself to write these posts in October.

... If I can't (because you know... it's almost that time of the year! Yes, NaNoWriMo!), then I aim to finish this series this year. Knowing that I'm not a frequent post-writer and November with all those preparations is just around the corner, that feels like a more possible goal to accomplish than in October. Nonetheless, I will try :)

What is your favourite utopian and/or distopian novel?

The Fantasy of Surviving

Somehow, I managed to survive this week. I'm still pretty exhausted, but at least I'm done with the worst of it. One more exam on Tuesday, then three in January. That means that I can finally decrease my coke-intake!

Browsing through my latest posts, I've realized I'd abandoned writing about my creative writing class, in favour of NaNoWriMo. It's understandable, but I feel like I still should've paid more attention to it.

Nonetheless, let's continue with the next genre: Fantasy.

For my surprise, it started in Romanticism. Typical fantasy creates new mythology, or uses old mythology that is reframed by the author's mind. Mythology should be balanced in term of sex (the gender, people, what were you thinking?) and ought to include hierarchy, fight for dominance, miracles, artefacts, etc. Actions and facts (can) contradict physics.

Last time, I wrote about magical realism which has fantastic elements, too. The most outstanding difference between magical realism and fantasy / sci-fi is that while the former doesn't explain even the most unbelievable things, fantasy and sci-fi tell us why those fantastic things can occur.

But why is there fantasy? There's this thing we call 'frame of reference' which hints at mankind's common knowledge. For example, if you look around mythologies or fairytales of different cultures, you'll find some common symbols, motives and course of actions. This indicates there's something in the background which connects us through these common patterns in various cultures. Social psychology engages in this, if you're interested in it.

A couple of stories we mentioned:

Jostein Gaarder: Sofies verden (Sophie's World)

The legend of Lőrinc Tar's Descent to Hell

~~~ 

I'll write down the list of topics, so you can choose which one you'd like to read about next time. If nobody wants to choose, then we'll go in this order:

- Utopias and Distopias

- Historical novels (Regency novels)

- Fairytales

- Humor

I'd like to post my fairytale between Christmas and New Year - I still need to read through it, translate, then check for mistakes, before posting, though. But it won't mess with what you choose for me to write about in the next post, don't worry ;)

Complain Corner - Why you (probably) won't see me posting for awhile

Yes, again. Lately, because of NaNoWriMo and sinking into self-pity that I won't reach 50k, blablabla.

Now, I'm having exams. I mean, next week. Every day. Even on Friday, though I don't have lessons on that day. And I'll get to know this weekend whether I'll have 1 or 2 exams on Tuesday. Wheepee! (Feel the sarcasm.)

It's gonna be a hectic week, and I'm afraid that I'll need another bottle (or two) of caffeine-filled coke :/ Damn exam-periods, ruining my health. Oh, and I'll have one more exam on the 21st, then I'm clear - until 7th January, but I'm not complaining about that one, because otherwise, it'd have had to have been on the 16th or 23rd of December. A little bit of consideration from a teacher - she's doing her PhD studies, so I guess she hasn't forgot the terrible exam periods, yet. Thank you.

On the other hand, I might have a few posts, because - as all worthwile writers, I can be a big procrastinator. But if I do manage to get my wandering mind under control, then you'll probably won't hear from me for a week or two. Just wanted to warn you.

THEN I'll continue my posts about my creative writing class! You didn't forget about that, did you? We still have a few more lessons to go! And I think I'll translate one of my homeworks into English and post it here. An original fairytale ;)

NaNoWriMo - The Second Week

After my post on Monday about the enthusiastic first weekend, Second Week hit me. Literally.
I was exhausted on Tuesday and had lots of classes (not that that kept me from writing last week, but now I couldn't fight), then Wednesday, I planned to write a lot, after all, I only had one lesson in the morning, then another in the evening, so all should be alright, right?

Not really. The weather was depressing and I felt as if I'd been plunged into the deepest, darkest, blackest waters of self-pity. I had hit a wall - I only had 3 sentences in my outline about what was supposed to happen now in my Novel and I needed at least 3-5 scenes written from them. I couldn't find Inspiration anymore. And my idea which sounded so fantastic earlier, now seemed hollow. I couldn't even get into my characters' head! Ugh.

Then came Thursday, my mood wasn't any better, but I went to all my classes at least. For the record, my last class was Creative Writing. You know, the one that gave me the idea to start this blog.
And we had a special lecture that day - we didn't sit in the classroom, but rather, went to a discussion and book introduction at a bookshop, called 'Írók Boltja' which means 'Writers' Shop' in Hungarian. The event was both in English and in Hungarian. I loved hearing the Irishmen speak and although it was late and I was a bit tired, I was really content.
I even joked with my classmates that this will be a research for me; so when I'll have my booklaunch for my bestseller, I'll already have experiences about these things.
Oh, and I just bought a new mobile phone which I am absolutely in love with! I've wanted this phone for at least 2 months now.

After I got home, tired, but content, I got to know my new cell phone. I knew I wouldn't be writing, no matter how much I planned to, because I still didn't have Inspiration AND I know myself enough to realize I wouldn't be satisfied until I got acquainted with my new gadget. So I did just that.

But you know what happened on Friday? I was still in bed, and the Sun, which has been hiding over the last few days, was now annoyingly bright and shining straight into my eyes from behind the blinds, when inspiration suddenly hit me. It seemed I really only needed to let go of the guilt and quit stressing myself over my wordcount and have my Novel rest a few days. I remember I had a rough second week last year, as well.
I still have a few details to shape (like the very next scene, again! argh!), but my faith returned. I remembered how enthusiastic I was on the last week of October to finally start my story, and how much I loved writing the first few thousand words last week. And I caught up with my wordcount, I wrote more than 4000 words yesterday and I only need about 400 today to reach the official NaNoWriMo wordcount. Which will be a little tricky, since I'm invited to a birthday celebration, but who knows?
Well, I won't stress myself over it, I'll just have to write more words tomorrow, right?

How do you fight SWD (Second Week Depression)? What do you do to get over it? Or you don't even notice, just write, write, write?

Magic realism

Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements are blended into a realistic atmosphere in order to access a deeper understanding of reality. These magical elements are explained like normal occurrences that are presented in a straightforward manner which allows the "real" and the "fantastic" to be accepted in the same stream of thought. It has been widely considered a literary and visual art genre; creative fields that exhibit less significant signs of magic realism include film and music.

Quote: from Wikipedia 

Characteristics of magic realism

*Plenitude style

Stratifying elements (themes, stories), different styles.

*Characters can have fantastic attributes

'Pleasant, but extraordinary strange.' 

*Metafiction

The author doesn't tell everything, and doesn't explain if the events are accurate or authentic OR whether he/she agrees with the characters.

The difference between fantasy/sci-fi and magical realism is that the latter doesn't even explain the most fantastic/impossible occurences.

*Sense of mystery

The reader has to look for hidden meanings in the text. A higher awareness in regard to life's contradictions and hidden meaning.

*Collective consciousness

It maps society in the novel, characters relate to that world (and in turn).

*Political critic

Implicit critique of society, particularly the elite.

Magical realism is a post-modern characteristic; realism, surrealism, related to fantasy and science fiction. The first 20 pages are decisive ones.

A few examples: One Hundred Years of Solitude (by Gabriel García Márquez), Salman Rushidie's several books, Toni Morrison, etc. We can see Kaffka as the precursor of magical realism.

No writing excercise in this lesson :( 

Publishing in Hungary

As I mentioned in my last post, we discussed this topic after the memoirs and even though I knew it works differently here than there, I came upon a few surprising facts.

First of all, we have Literary Agencies, too, but they don't represent Hungarian authors. My initial question was: 'Then what the heck do they do?' I just learnt that they are the connection between foreign publishers and Hungarian publishing houses.

The other comes from the fact above: writers who'd like to publish their books, go straight to publishers. They pitch their projects to them and if they don't like it, then Writer goes to another publisher. Then another... and another... And when they finally found the perfect match and it comes to signing contracts, well, there's noone to ask advice from, regarding the agreement.
How much advance is normal? What about royalties? If I want to have any say in (for example) the cover, will they change their mind about publishing my book? Will I see the MS after the editor goes through it? Can I have any say about the changes? - And these are only a few questions Writer have to solve on their own.

After these concerns are out of the way and you both signed a contract, then it's usually about 1/2 year or a year before the book is published.
1st: editors edit
2nd: proof-reader goes through the text (this is more strict, looking for grammar mistakes, typos, double meanings, etc.)

What I really couldn't get out of my mind was when the teacher said she works for a publisher and she told us some questions they ask when interviewing new writers. One of them was this: 'How many times did you read your book?'

She said if the answer went on like this: 'I read it, then edited, then got a few friends to read it, too, then edited again...' Then there's a high chance they won't accept the MS. Why? Because they think the words aren't as sincere as in the first or second draft.

For the record, I don't know whether this applies to other publishers in Hungary or not, but I almost asked which one does she work for.

So, you see I discovered another difference! This kept me thinking for awhile, though. But because in the end, I'll always be a maximalist and can't be someone else, whether a publisher likes it or not, I'll be perfecting my MS.

Any thoughts on this topic?

Memoirs

Better late than never, they say.

The week before last, we were discussing memoirs. We learnt that biographies are between fact and fiction and there're two types: autobiographies and classical biographies (external). And two other categories for the first one: self-help autobiography (to show yourself to the World) or fictionized autobiography, which is not in chronological order.

The first autobiography novel was written by Augustinus, the title was 'Confessions'. Back then, a biography was called an 'apology'. Interesting, isn't it?

Rousseau wrote the second autobiography.

Autobiography is 70% stream of consciousness-novels (about your feelings, etc.) and 30% facts.

Writing practice:

+ Write one of your days, of your feeling.

+ You have a minute to write anything that comes to mind when hearing the word 'rock' (free association-game).

We also talked about how books are made - in Hungary. I think my next post would be about that, I found an interesting thing to contemplate about, regarding this topic.

Challenge!

I took on a creative writing course at the University this semester. The first lesson was on Thursday, and as far as I can see, we'll be focusing on the various genres. E. g. Memoirs, Utopias & Distopias, Fairy Tales, Historic novels... AND there'll be a lesson dedicated to Translation & Editing.

We need to turn in an essay and one of our own texts. I'm already done with my essay. We had 3 topics to choose from:
1) The reason why literature exists
2) My favourite texts
3) A text by me

I went with the first one. Because A) How can you ask a writer for her favourite text? Clearly, she has many. And I was a bit lazy trying to decide which ones should I include. B) Usually, I takes me minimum 7 pages to write a whole short-story, otherwise it'll be a bit... ungainly. This task also said that the writing should be around 3-5 pages.

And I wanted to create something new to reflect my current writing style (though on second thought, I don't know if the first choice can really do that) and I usually have novel-lenght ideas. A bit harder for me to write a complete short story.

For the record, I was thinking for days what to write in my essay. 'The reason why literature exists'... Eventually, I had several point of views and opinions to choose from.

So, with this creative writing course and November coming (NaNoWriMo!) and starting my thesis, I won't be bored this semester. (Did I mention lots of seminars, yet?)