A Letter from Tolkien

Letters of Note: I have no ancestors of that gifted people

In my second novel, the post-apocalyptic one I've mentioned a couple of times on this blog (titled The End ) The Lord of the Rings has special significance to the main character because it was the last movie she and her father watched together.

Today, I found a wonderful letter written by its author, J. R. R Tolkien. It was 1938, and his publisher was negotiating to have Lord of the Rings translated into German. The government asked for proof of Tolkien's Aryan descent. (The Nazis had passed a law that banned all books, music, etc. written by non-Aryans.) Tolkien wrote this reply:

25 July 1938
20 Northmoor Road, Oxford

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject — which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war [here, he refers to WWI], in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung [ancestry].

I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and

remain yours faithfully,

J. R. R. Tolkien

(Bolding mine.)

How I Discovered Fanfic

In October of 2011 - which seems much longer ago than it actually was - I found a book on Amazon that seemed interesting. A romance with a subplot about Dante scholars, which appealed to that nerdy side of me.
It was "Gabriel's Inferno" By Sylvain Renard.

After I finished reading it, I decided to go to Amazon and leave a review. I admit, I'm a person who rarely reviews books - it really has to stand out for me, for good or for bad, for me to write one, and considering I used to read between two or three books PER DAY, that's really saying something.

So, I started reading through the reviews, and found one which (rather scathingly) said that the book was once a "Twilight" fanfiction.

"Hmm. What's that?" I wondered. I typed the words into Google and my whole life changed.
I had discovered that there were other people out there who also took books and movies they loved and wrote new stories for the characters, sending them on new adventures in different setings, giving them a different love interest ... And what's more, there was a massive community devoted to these stories.

I read some of the "big name authors", a few of the most popular fics. I thought about it for a few days, and then decided to take the plunge and write down one of the stories that had been circulating in my head for years.

My first story got 45 reviews, which I thought was a pretty respectable showing. I wasn't in it for the reviews, after all, but rather as an outlet for these stories, and a small way to give back to the world of fiction which had given me such pleasure over the years.

Then, I started Written in the Stars and the damn thing just EXPLODED on me. I never expected this level of attention, and I certainly never expected to be approached by a publisher ...

So here I am, six months later, and everything has changed. I'm still reeling from it, and honestly, it still doesn't seem real. I found myself on a list of "Big Name Authors" on ADF today, and I was shocked, and frankly, a tad bit disquieted because I certainly don't think of myself that way. "How the hell did this happen?" I keep asking myself.

And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
And you may ask yourself
Where does that highway go?
And you may ask yourself
Am I right?...Am I wrong?
And you may tell yourself
MY GOD!...WHAT HAVE I DONE?

 
My first book will be out around the one year anniversary of my joining the FF community. I really ought to go track down that reviewer and tell them "Thank  you."

 Tamara Putvin on Facebook suggested this, and I really wish I could go!

Iowa Writing Festival Tons of workshops for the aspiring writer. It's like boot camp for authors!

I've Been Nominated for an iSparkle "Dreamer's Award"!

 

Written in the Stars has been nominated for a "Dreamer's Award" in the iSparkle Awards!

 First,I'm like ....

Then, I'm like: 

And then I'm dancing awkwardly but with enthusiasm:

Perhaps "flailing" might be a better way of putting it.

There may be a bit of SQUEEing in the Lissa Bryan house tonight.

Review of "Savior" on Twi-Fic h00rs!

Twi-Fic h00rs: Tuesday Fic Review: Savior  by Lissa Bryan "I'm not Bella Swan any more. That girl died alone, in the woods, shortly after my eighteenth birthday. I am Death, ...

Coming Soon, to F4NKH: Tailward!

My banner for the story I'm contributing to Fandom 4 No Kid Hungry.

In the midst of a high fever, Edward dreams that he meets the Goddess in the meadow on Fenix. She tells him that there are some important things that he's forgotten. Edward remembers his life, empty and lonely as it was before he met Bella, and then the joys and sorrows they experienced after their mating. Can he repair that which he has taken for granted?

Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

My biggest grammar faults are #4 and #9. What's yours?

Changes to "Dark Goddess" Storyline

Over the next couple of days, I'll be making some changes to Dark Goddess,. The changes themselves will be relatively minor, but when I'm finished, it will be an Edward/Bella story. The original version will be on The Writer's Coffee Shop.

When I first began this story, I talked it over with my banner maker, the lovely SoapyMayhem. The story was one I've played with in my mind for a few years, changing characters, plot, etc. I had two alternate versions: an Edward/Bella story and a version in which she ended up with both of them. I told Soapy that I was going to go with the latter version.

"Why?" You may ask. Well, I was feeling a little more brave at the time. I figured if I could pull off a story about an alien with a tail, I could probably make this work, too. But I'm not at a point in my life right now where I need any more stress and having unhappy readers causes stress. I've heard the words "hard limit" so many times this week that I feel like I'm reading Fifty Shades. I even toyed with the idea of writing two separate endings that people could choose which they preferred, but then I thought, "Well, hell, why not write two versions of it, and post the E/J/B on TWCS?"

So, here's the plan: The story on FFN will be the Edward/Bella version and the one on TWCS will be the Edward/Bella/Jacob version. Both will follow the same basic story line, but the romance will be different. Those of you who don't have "hard limits" can enjoy both versions.

My Story for the "Bella's Insane" Contest

I posted my new one-shot tonight. The title is "Savior" and it's a horror story of what happened to Bella after the breakup in New Moon, if there had never been a cliff-diving/suicide-by-Volturi incident. Edward doesn't return in this story until seven years later, when Alice has an involuntary vision of what Bella has been up to. And it ain't pretty.

This story is my first attempt to write in present tense, and in first-person. And, being me, I had to tackle both of those categories in the same story. It presented a lot of challenges, including a plot bunny that hopped away for a couple of days without filling me in on the ending. Luckily, it came back and I was able to finish the story tonight.

I think I did better this time with unfolding the "info dump" throughout the story, instead of one clumsy chunk of text. Practice makes perfect, or so they say, and I don't expect to ever reach perfect, but I may get better. These contests are fun, and so was writing "Crazy Bella."

I'm one of The Notebook: Weekly Rec's 4/11 - 4/18!!!

The Notebook: Weekly Rec's 4/11 - 4/18: We need you! That's right you, yes...you...right there sitting in front of the computer...we need more fic recs from you guys. Make sure you...

Letters of Note: C.S. Lewis on Writing

Letters of Note has a wonderful letter from C.S. Lewis with good advice on writing:

What really matters is:–

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn't mean anything else.

2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don't implement promises, but keep them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean "More people died" don't say "Mortality rose."

4. In writing. Don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was "terrible," describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was "delightful"; make us say "delightful" when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, "Please will you do my job for me."

5. Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

Letters of Note: I am very real

Wonderful letter by Kurt Vonnegut on censorship, and his own pain at being accused of trying to warp young minds:

Letters of Note: I am very real

Dark Goddess Chapter 4, a twilight fanfic - FanFiction.Net

Dark Goddess chapter 4 has been posted. Enjoy!

Coming Soon .... More "Tailward!"

I'm doing a Written in the Stars out-take for F4NHK. You have Melinda Otterson Gray to thank for giving me the idea.

Please consider donating to this worthy cause.

REBLOG: Issy's musings: Fandom for No Kid Hungry

Issy's musings: Fandom for No Kid Hungry: Ysar and Kitsu Shel have recently asked me to be part of a very worthy cause of aiding the No Kid Hungry initiative. Mobilizing industries and individuals to promote sustainable change, this timely initiative benefits millions of children directly by bolstering food programs in every community across the United States and steps up to aid international efforts in times of crisis.  

Add your voice to the national movement of people committed to ending childhood hunger in America. For a donation of $10, you’ll receive a rich and enthralling compilation of one shots or outtakes from your favorite authors who have come forward to lend a hand. We already have such luminaries as Kitsu Shel, LissaBryan, Edward’s Eternal, and Lady Gwynedd, and it’s only day 1 of the sign up!

Keep checking back to see who else is joining the ranks to make sure there’s food on the table for every child in the US.

Go to the Fandom for No Kid Hungry site Ysar has built to run the operation.

Follow us on twitter: @Fandom4NKH 

If you are an author, consider donating your work.

If you are a beta and/or a graphic artist, please help us to get the pieces ready on time.

If you are a reader, kindly consider making a contribution.

Thank you for all your help.

For a Worthy Cause....

I've signed up to contribute a story for Fandom 4 No Hungry Kids (F4NKH).

"Dark Goddess" Questions and Comments

- What is she?
Bella is a vampire. She's been in "hibernation" since the pre-Columbian era. When a vampire doesn't feed for a while, he or she goes into a deep sleep state until something or someone wakes them. Upon rising, they need to feed immediately and will be hungrier than usual for a while until their bodies recover from the effects of hibernation.

- Your vamps are different than SM's?
Yes. My vampire world was set up in my story Compulsion. (Which would technically mean there are two Edwards and two Bellas, etc. in my 'verse, but let's just pretend. It's the AU of my AU.)

• They have fangs which extend when they're hungry, and their saliva contains a drug that makes their bite intensely pleasurable. Some people become addicted to vampire bites.
• They burn in sunlight and sleep during the day. The older ones can stay awake later into the daytime than "fledgelings", or young vampires.
• They have a Queen, Victoria Volturi and she has a police force that's called by her last name. Their laws are simple: No killing humans or other vampires, keep the secret, and don't create more vampires without permission (though there's an exception for people changed on the brink of death.). The vampires have to register with the Queen and swear their loyalty.
• The only way to make another vampire is to drink the blood of a vampire. Vampirism is a blood-borne virus. Though many vampires believe that the more a changing human drinks from the vampire, the stronger they'll be, Alice's studies didn't bear that out, either. It only takes a drop of blood to make the change. (Bella in Compulsion was changed when vampire blood seeped into a cut on her finger.)
• They're super-strong and fast. Older vamps are stronger than young ones. They can control human minds and implant false memories. Some people, who had powers before they were changed, such as telekinetics or precognitives sometimes find those powers are magnified after they become vampires. 
• My vamps can't live off of animal blood. It can quell their hunger for a short while, but it won't nourish them. It's like drinking a big glass  of water when you're hungry; it "tricks" the stomach into thinking it's full for a little while.
• Drinking from humans doesn't harm them, as long as the vampire has sufficient control not to take too much. 
• Younger vamps need more blood than the elders. 
• Older vamps are stronger than fledgelings.
• When a vampire is killed, their body decays into ash. The older the vampire, the faster this process, but even a fledgeling will be ashes by dawn.
• Vampires have blood bars where they can buy bottled blood or find a live donor. They're generally located in the back of human bars, accessible only by password or a special token.

- Is this an E/B story, or a B/J story?
There are two versions of this story. The E/B version is on Fanfiction.com. The original version is on The Writer's Coffee shop and it's E/B/J. The difference lies mainly in the romance; the general plot remains the same, though there are some minor alterations here and there and the pacing in some parts differs.

- Pink tears?
All vampire fluids are based on the blood they drink. (And I'm not pulling a Meyer, here. Male vampires don't ejaculate and females cannot get pregnant. They're dead. The dead cannot create life.)

- What is Rosalie?
Rosalie is a dayman, a special type of human that serves vampires. They're specially drawn to any vampire and can sense their emotions and their needs, but with their own, it's like they're the other half of each others' souls. The bond between a vampire and their dayman is intense, but it's never romantic. They have powerful instincts which make it feel incestuous. They smell bad to vampires, which is believed to be nature's way of preventing their vampire from seeing them as a convenient food source.

- Is Bella based on Leeloo from "The Fifth Element" or Anne Rice's Cleopatra in "The Mummy"?
 No, neither, though I loved them both. ("Moool-tee-pass!") I joked with one commenter that I would have Bella sing Celeste Aida  like Cleopatra does as she drives through the desert in The Mummy, but instead, she ended up singing "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance.

-  Is Bella ever going to learn English? Edward was able to learn a language she understood, so easily, so I'm wondering how come a vampire, with perfect recall, can't retain the language.
 Bella's problem is not memorization. As she proved when she sang at Tuneville, she can replicate the sound of words. It's having a definition for all of those words that's the problem. Some of them she can figure out by their context, but not always. Secondly, Edward is a genius and can learn much faster than ordinary people. Now that she and Edward have a language in common, she'll be able to learn faster.


- Why did it take Edward so long to change into a vampire?
The amount of time the change takes varies from person to person. Some people are "under" for longer than others. Vampires have an urban legend that says the longer a person is "under" the stronger they will be, but Alice found no correlation when she studied it in Compulsion. Some people have been "under" for as long as three days before the change was complete.

- Is Jinx modeled on any elves in other fiction?
All of my stories are entwined in the same "world" (except for Written in the Stars which has its own universe.) The fae-folk include the selkies from The Selkie Wife.

• All of my fae are vegetarians.
•  They're immortal except that they can die of grief, or be killed by beheading/fire. 
•  Some of them have the power of precognition or other psychic gifts. Their powers are fading as nature itself fades, but they can command and heal plants and animals.
• The high elves are the Leaf Lords, the highest caste of fae, the caretakers of nature. That's why many of them hate humans, seeing them as creatures who destroy the natural world.. Every Leaf Bringer has a "heart-tree", a tree with which they're especially bonded. They can survive the death of their tree, but most of them don't want to.
• The high elves are very tall and their eyes have a distinctive "glow."