Books

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man--also named Jonathan Safran Foer--sets out to find the woman who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war; an amorous dog named Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior; and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukranian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.

Buy Everything is Illuminated $11.16

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Frannie O'Neill is a talented Colorado veterinarian haunted by her husband's murder. But the course of her life is about to change again. After another bizarre killing, Kit Harrison, a troubled and unconventional FBI agent, arrives on her doorstep. And late one night Frannie stumbles upon a strange, astonishing phenomenon.

Her name is Max. Only eleven years old, she will lead Frannie and Kit to uncover one of the most diabolical and inhuman plots of modern science.

With this now being a three part series, I decided it was time for me to get my feet wet. It has to be decent to warrant a second and third installment, correct? That is what I found. It was decent. In no way would I call this Patterson's best, but it was good enough. I will read The Lake House and Maximum Ride to see how the story plays out. I will admit I am curious to see where the author is going with these characters.

The author speaks of the importance of this book in an introduction. He mentions that ideas he thought were an act of fiction may be more real than we want to believe. Then again, I am sure that helps book sales. Either way, here is another quick read from James Patterson. Pick it up if you have a free weekend.

Buy When the Wind Blows $7.99

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John Sandford, author of the Lucas Davenport mysteries, is currently on tour promoting his latest novel Broken Prey. For his complete tour schedule click here. I drove to Ann Arbor the other night to see him at Nicola's Books.

This was now the second time I was seeing John Sandford on tour. I had seen him the year before as his latest (at that time) was released. It was at that signing that I had my collection signed. I had not updated it since, so I only needed the new one signed for my library.

Sandford regaled us with stories before he answered questions. When our curiosity was satisfied, he began the signing. Once the line had dissipated, as he mentioned pre-signing, he stuck around to answer any specific questions and hold a short writing workshop. The neat part here is that there were only two of us who stuck around.

I held my tongue as I felt I did not have much to contribute to the conversation. The other two, a gentleman and the author, seemed to do well on their own. I only interjected when I could as they searched for the names of other authors and books to use as examples of their points.

Through the question and answer session that precluded the signing and our talk afterwards he never once disguised what he did. He always referred to the writing as his job. He spoke of being a writer as he would if he were the head of a major corporation. They have one big thing in common: they have a product they are trying to sell.

During the first Q&A, a woman asked why the author chose for his hero to settle down with one woman as opposed to another. She was met with a shocking response that had nothing to do with the moral character of either woman. Woman A sold more books than Woman B. It was a better business decision on the part of the writer to choose one over the other, so he did.

This prompted the aspiring writer, he was a professor, to ask if Sandford was truly as cynical about writing as he came across as. The author replied that it is not cynicism. Writing is his job. He did not try to glorify the occupation. He said writing is hard work. It is what he does, what he feels he has to do, every day.

The author went on to tell many things about writing. He said that you need to be able to write about something with which you are familiar. If you have never been to a murder scene, do not write about one. You may write your mystery/thriller from the perspective of someone else whose perspective you better understand. He did, however, speak about relationships you should play on in your own life. Maybe you know someone who knows a police officer. Get that person to get you in touch so you may ask to ride along in the car. The things you learn on that ride, or a series of those rides, will be invaluable.

He does not know how his books will end when he sits down to write them. What he does know is that in the first chapter someone will die, in the second chapter the characters will be introduced and towards the end there will be a gun fight. This seems like a pretty basic approach, but it is a tried and true model for him. He does not outline the story at the beginning, but he will do so towards the end. When he is nearly finished with the book and has but 30,000-40,000 words to go he will lay out his story. He wants a galloping finish so everything must be summed up at the appropriate time. The ending is very important.

If you have never written a novel before, the last 4 chapters of the one you write will be the best writing you have done. Revision is important. You must constantly edit your writing; especially when it is complete. For your book to sell in New York to be published, the entire thing must be as good as those final four chapters. This may mean for a lot of re-writing.

The standard newspaper column will be 750 words. The author feels as though he could write that much at this point in his career in 20-30 minutes and it would be pretty good. If you can get to a point where you are comfortable writing 750 words each day, he says you can have a complete novel in about 7 months. To be safe, he suggests a 2 hour commitment each day.

You need to be married to the idea of writing and completing a novel. The hardest part, he offers, will be in the endurance. To be able to sustain one idea from page 1 until the end is very difficult. There will be times when you want to quit. There will be times when you think the idea is not very good. You must keep going; having the stamina to finish is a key success factor.

He addressed the subject of writer's block. He quoted a fellow author for this point of the conversation; I apologize for not remembering who it was. Said author was asked by the president of a college in Minnesota what he did when he gets writer's block. He responded in kind with a question asking her what she does when she gets president of the college block. This may seem silly, but with some thought you see that you find a way to get things done. To elaborate and personalize the story some, Sandford says that if he is having a hard time at any point he will go back and do some editing. Maybe he has written enough for that day and after some proofreading he will pick it back up the next day.

You need to decide what you want to do with your novel. There are two options (for the most part). Option 1 is that you write a book that allows you to show your artistic side. You are an artist and you want to share your vision with the world, well with the 20,000 people who will buy your book at least. Option 2 is that you learn the demographics of the book market. You find out that the bulk of book sales comes from women ages 35-60 who live in households with enough disposable income to buy hardcover books. If you know this and learn their wants and needs you may better cater to them. Doing this, explains the author, you may now share your vision with the 2 million people who buy your book. I do not use this as a threat. I am stating, as did Sandford, that many people choose option 1, there is nothing wrong with it. The explanation is more about option 2. If you want to sell a blockbuster, and you have never sold a novel before...be sure to understand there are certain nuances that will help and others that will deter the performance of your book.

Nothing John Sandford said came across to us as arrogant or far-fetched. I ask that you do not read it that way if my recap felt that way. The talk we had on Thursday was extremely helpful to someone like me who hopes to write a novel someday. I thanked the author that night and I thank him again for his time and guidance. It was unbelievably kind of him to take the time like that for us. Also I would like to thank Nicola's Books for hosting and keeping the store open while we chatted and the professor for asking all the right questions. This was an atypical book signing; one that will not be forgotten. What a fantastic experience.

When I went to visit my sister in Boston she handed me a present. Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated, visited Boston College. She tells me she heard the guy was on campus and had nothing else to do at the time so she stopped in and heard him talk a bit. While she was there, she picked up a copy of his new book Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and got it signed for me. What a great sister!

If you have never been to a book signing it is a very interesting experience. I will admit I find that readers have more to gain from it than those who do not read, but I would never recommend someone not attend. The only time I would say it is not as exciting is when the author does not talk.

Sometimes they will read excerpts from the book(s) they are promoting with the tour, sometimes they will sit and tell stories; most of the time they will have a question and answer session. There are times, however when the appearance is only a signing and you walk into the location and get in line and wait to have your book(s) signed and then you leave.

Some authors travel alone, some with a publisher. Some are very nice, others view the line behind you as daunting and prefer to keep things moving. Some allow for pictures to be taken with them while you get your book signed, some do not. You almost always have the option to get your book personalized (though I only get mine "flat signed", signature only).

The majority of the questions center around the following examples: When is the next book coming out? What is your next one about? Will this or any be optioned for a movie? Will you ever do a cross over novel with another writer? Where do you get your inspiration for these books? Is the main character modeled after someone you know? How did you get into writing? How long does it take for you to write a book? Do you know what how each book will end the minute you start writing it?

When you are having a book signed, the page on which the author will place the signature is the actual title page of the book. You will always know the title page from the rest as on its back there is the copyright information. A trick of the trade is to fold the inside flap of the dust jacket between the pages to mark the title page, thus making it easier for the author.

If you happen to bring copies of the author's work with you, you will typically be categorized as a collector. This flag will do nothing more than cost you a little time. I have heard the rule stating if you have more than 6 books, you are a collector; other times it goes unsaid on a "you know who you are" basis. Being a collector at a signing almost always will mean they as you wait until the end. You could be the first one to show up for the event, but they will still ask you be one of the last to leave. The justification is that somehow it is worse to be behind one person with ten books than ten people with one book each. How? I am not sure. The line will form without you in it. Many people will have their book signed while you wait. Eventually you will be greenlighted to join the queue. This can work to your advantage though as you then have the author in a more intimate environment as most of the other patrons have gone. Only one time have I encountered an author who has stated they will not sign more than one book other than their current release. They will sign as many copies of the new book as you have, but only one book besides.

You can find out about author appearances from a variety of sources. The location hosting the appearance will often have a flyer listing upcoming visits and/or details on their website. There may only be signs posted stating the author, time and date of the appearance. My personal favorite method is by simply visiting the author's personal website (if it exists); they generally have a page devoted to their tour schedule. The only downfall to using this angle exclusively is that you may miss out on authors you have never seen before.

Then of course there is the rest of the internet on which you may find people who attend these appearances regularly and they can be a great resource if you are looking for information (see also: e-mail me). I will try to begin posting my favorite authors' tour schedules in case you are interested, but if you have any questions, let me know. In turn, if you have any info you think I may find interesting either leave a comment or follow the same e-mail link above.

I will also try and recap each appearance I attend and fill you in on any details you missed. I have created a new category to the Books blog for Author Appearances where I will contain all of the information discussed on this topic.

I love seeing authors speak and have the opportunity to pick their brains. To date, the furthest I have traveled for an author appearance is 2 hours, though I imagine that personal record will be broken.