This past weekend, I finished the first draft of my yet-untitled retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma (hooray!). In this version, Emma Woodhouse (or Brit Byers) is a socialite and daughter of former rock star and current music club owner Lonnie Byers.
Here’s a sample of one of the first scenes in the book:
Brit was supposed to go on a date today, but all she could think about at the moment was what happened last night.
She had somehow gotten home and somehow gotten in bed. She didn’t know who had gotten her there, but whoever it was, they had also stripped off her jumpsuit.
Oh crap. Had she peed in the jumpsuit? Barbara had warned her that wearing a jumpsuit was a bad idea, but Brit hadn’t listened. A hot up-and-coming designer had sent it to her, and she was determined to wear it. She wasn’t exactly sample sized, but she liked how the jumpsuit hugged her hips.
The jumpsuit, which Brit was pretty sure she was supposed to return to the designer, was balled up in the corner of her bedroom, feet away from the hamper. Who couldn’t even hit the hamper? She sat up gingerly and pressed her fingers into her temples to sooth the throbbing in her head. Her ears were still ringing from the pumping bass the DJ had been spinning.
Who the heck had tried to roofie her, and who had saved her? She hoped she was saved although by her current state of undress, she couldn’t be sure. Hopefully it was Daisy who had undressed her. Or maybe Lander had called Barbara to come get Brit. That would be the ideal situation.
Brit’s ears pricked painfully as something crashed outside of her bedroom. Her body jolted, and she pulled her comforter around her shoulders, shrouding herself completely in down feathers and satin. Please don’t let it be a rapist, please don’t let it be a rapist, she chanted to herself. Her eyes darted around the room, praying that she would spot her phone, but it was nowhere to be found. She couldn’t climb out the window—her apartment was too high off the ground. Read More
The first time I learned about Rainbow Rowel was from her NaNoWriMo pep talk in 2013. From there, I devoured all of her books she had released (Fangirl, Eleanor & Park, and Attachments, in that order) and waited in anticipation for what was to come (Landline and Carry On).
In October 2015, I was ridiculously excited to see her speak at NerdCon Stories in Minneapolis, where I also got the chance to meet her!
Why yes, the tote bag placement was indeed intentional, why do you ask?
Oh yeah, John Green was there, too.
So what makes this woman such an inspiration to me? Her style of writing is similar to mine, I think, or what I want to aspire to. But let me count the ways:
Imperfect love interests. Park is a brooding Asian guy who wears makeup. Levi is a barista with a receding hairline. Lincoln is a Dungeons & Dragons nerd and kind of a stalker. Yet they’re all HOT.
Imperfect leading ladies. These girls and women have flaws. And history. And personality quirks. And muffin tops. And thank goodness for that. What’s not to love?
Vivid descriptions you can feel in your gut. Lines like these are my inspiration on how to free myself from clichés in my own writing.
Eleanor’s mother was beautiful. She was tall and stately with broad shoulders and an elegant waist. All her bones seemed more purposeful than other people’s. Like they weren’t just there to hold her up. They were there to make a point…You’d look at Eleanor’s mom and think she must be carved into the prow of a viking ship somewhere…Eleanor looked like her mother through a fish tank…At sixteen, Eleanor was already built like she ran a medieval pub. – Eleanor & Park
Darn good, realistic dialogue. Dialogue is easily my favorite thing to write, and it’s also my favorite thing to read. It’s easy to do poorly, but Rainbow almost always gets it right.
Fan culture. The fanfic in Fangirl. The Star Wars premiere in Kindred Spirits. The music in E&P. Love it, can totally 100% relate to it, and frequently write about it myself.
Hometown love. Most of Rainbow’s books are based in Nebraska, and you can tell she loves her home state. Likewise, I’m a cheesehead through and through (although I don’t watch football), and like to represent Wisconsin pride in my books.
She just gets me sometimes.
It was a pretty good strategy for most social situations: show up, fall back, let somebody else break the ice and take the spotlight. Somebody always would. Extroverts were nothing if not dependable. But even an expert mid-trovert like Elena couldn’t lie low in a crowd of three. – Kindred Spirits
Rainbow Rowell is currently writing for Marvel’s Runaways comic book series.
Welcome to my new site! It’s possible you know me as Rebekah N. Bryan or Bek Castro. Nothing like a re-brand to shake things up, am I right? I wanted to post a little survey to introduce myself to you if we haven’t been acquainted.
What is your favorite family vacation? Orlando, or more specifically the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resorts
What is your proudest accomplishment? Publishing my first book, FRONT ROW. Or winning the school spelling bee in 8th grade.
What is your favorite book to read? Pride and Prejudice
What makes you laugh the most? Impressions or random humor. Least? Physical humor.
What was the last movie you went to? What did you think? Is it bad that I can’t remember? I think it was Murder on the Orient Express. It was aight.
If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be? This is easy. Sip lattes and shop all by myself.
What is your favorite game or sport to watch and play? Watch? Nothing unless my kids are playing. To play? Volleyball.
Would you rather ride a bike, ride a horse, or drive a car? Drive a car. I love driving by myself.
What would you sing at Karaoke night? NOTHING. Singing in front of people terrifies me.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Chicken divan and blueberry muffins made from a box
Who is your favorite author? Rainbow Rowell
How often do you buy clothes? Too often. I should really delete some of the sales emails I get.
What’s your favorite holiday? Valentine’s Day because it’s also my birthday
What’s your favorite family recipe? Homemade ravioli
Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life? Laura Prepon without the black hair
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say here. I’m super excited, but I didn’t want to brag. Then again, I haven’t technically won anything yet—I’m a semifinalist. But still. Check this out. It’s my name on a website! (Keep your cool, girl, dang.)
When my friend Sara Dahmen encouraged me a couple years ago to submit one of my books to the Chanticleer International Book Awards (a contest she went on to win in her genre!), I was hesitant. It wasn’t free, and frankly, I didn’t know if I had written anything award winning. This was probably around the time I had published one, mayyyybe two of my books.
But then I wrote Track Two on Repeat, and I believed in it. And I considered Flowerantha, and I believed in that too. They weren’t as niche as Front Row or Lyfers, which are both super fun. You should read them. And let’s be real, I wouldn’t mind a little validation. Being self-published, I don’t have professional editors from publishing houses looking over my stuff, giving me a thumbs up or thumbs down or nudging me in the right direction. And as much as I like self-publishing and trust my beta readers, I wanted that.
For the last few years, I’ve been going to an excellent writers’ conference in Madison, WI, in April. Same thing this year—I’ll just be in Washington state, which I’m very much looking forward to. Practicing my polite clap for when they don’t call my name at the awards banquet. Just kidding…positive thoughts! So it’s OK if I don’t win. (But like all the other semifinalists, I sure hope I do!) I have my validation. I’m on the right track. Now onto the next.
Thank you so much to Chanticleer Reviews for your consideration, and good luck to the other shortlisters! Can’t wait to party with you all in April! Cheers!
I was in that musical in high school–How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying–and I had an absolute blast goofing off in the chorus. The title seemed apt for my topic today. So how can you be successful without really trying?
You can’t. That was clickbait. Unless you’re lucky of course, but how many of us can really count on that?
I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes successful people successful. From hanging out with fellow writers and following other writers on Twitter and explaining self-publishing to coworkers and family and such, success is something that’s kind of always in the back of my mind. It’s the goal, after all.
I’d like to think natural talent and passion is all it takes to be successful at something. Those are things I think I have. But it’s more than that. You also have to be savvy and more importantly–hardworking. The people who know how to hustle are the ones who make it. And I think that’s OK. I think that’s fair. So what if I can recite all the prepositions and write grammatically correct (thanks, Mr. G!)? That doesn’t necessarily mean people should want to read my books.
I pride myself in being well-rounded, but I think a lot of that is at the expense of being really, really good at one thing. On the bright side, my well-roundedness makes me adaptable in the corporate world. It helped me change careers when I wanted to and feel useful wherever I go.
Last night, I happened to catch an Instagram story where Rachel Bloom (star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) asked her cinematographer what it takes to be a cinematographer. He said that you need to love what you do because you’re going to be doing it for 12 hours a day. He continued by saying that you should do something that you’d do anyway for free. That made me smile. I write for a living. It’s technical writing, but that’s something. I get excited about editing. Occasionally, I get to troubleshoot something for someone, which I love. I love problem solving, and I’m darn good at it too. And sometimes I think, if I were a full-time author, working for myself, maybe I wouldn’t get to do that anymore.
Part of my musings came from watching ABC’s Boy Band on Hulu and absorbing knowledge from the wildly successful “architects,” Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, Spice Girl Emma Bunton, and Grammy winning producer Timbaland. Even the mentors, the behind-the-scenes talent, blow me away with their success. Adam Blackstone, for example, who I’m obsessed with at the moment, is the musical director for people like Justin Timberlake and Nicki Minaj. And he’s my age. What am I doing at 34? And they all seem SO NICE and down-to-earth while mentoring these young up-and-comers. Even though they’re huge BFDs. (Am I using that right? I am a suburban mom, after all.) By the way, I’ve been following Nick’s career for a long time. Believe me when I say that guy knows his stuff. And I don’t think he ever stops working.
One of the boy band hopefuls on the show said something to the affect of “we’ll sleep when we’re billionaires.” I think that’s the mindset you have to have. Some days, I have it together enough to set my alarm for 4:45, write for a half hour or so, then get my kids ready for school, and head into work and maybe get a workout in there sometime too. I don’t say this to brag–I say this to remind myself that it’s possible, especially if I convince myself I can survive on less than my cushy and typical eight hours of sleep.
I’ve also been reading Scrappy Little Nobody, actress Anna Kendrick’s memoir. She knew from the time she was a kid that she wanted to be an actor. I guess I’ve known just as long that I wanted to be a writer. The difference was, she went for it, and I convinced myself that it was more practical to become a teacher or a web developer. By the way, I almost became a web developer at one point, but I didn’t have the drive for that either. And believe me, I’m not ripping on web developers or teachers. On the contrary, I’m in awe of them too.
The thing all these people had in common was a laser focus on what they wanted to be.
Then this whole thing begs the question of how you balance it all. I wonder, while thinking about all this, where work-life balance comes into play. I wonder if it does at all. While I’m writing this, I’m simultaneously making my kids dinner (fish sticks) while they’re both talking to me at the same time, and I’m sort of listening. As you can imagine, I’m not doing any of these things at 100%. I’m still figuring this all out.
So basically, unless you’re cool with being in the chorus, do as I say, not as I do.
