Strong reactions

*disclaimer* There are no plot spoilers in this post, however there ARE emotional responses discussed, so if you wish to avoid ANY possible reference to a certain third book in a certain trilogy with a main character named Tris, you may want to read this after you've finished the book. *warning over*







So I'm still in recovery mode over here today. I read a certain book last weekend, and without being too spoilery, it left me feeling a little shell-shocked. I'm sure you've heard (unless your head is under a rock or you have adamantly been refusing to look at anything online) that reactions to this book have been VERY strong, and not all of them have been positive.

As an author, my reaction is complicated. I think many reviews that I've seen have been knee-jerk reactions. But I've forced myself to sit on this for a bit, to think it through--to let the immediate strong emotions to simmer a bit. Whether you like the ending or not, there is one thing I think we can all agree on, Veronica Roth is an amazing author. If she weren't, she wouldn't have elicited this strong of a response by what she chose to do. And she wrote a fantastic (and brave) response to the questions about the ending of her series HERE.

As authors, we are constantly making choices. We are trying to stay true to the story in our hearts, and the voices of our characters in our heads. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the fact that reading is so subjective is simultaneously one of the most wonderful and terrifying aspects of being an author. No author, not even J.K. Rowling, can make every reader happy with what happens within the pages of their book. (Although she's probably come the closest of any author I've read.) But she still has the one and two star reviews, and people who were mad about one thing or another in the Harry Potter series. On the whole though, most authors don't come anywhere near the kind of universal adoration that her books received. Do we all dream of that? Probably. I think we'd be lying if we said no.

The bottom line is that both Roth and Rowling accomplished something great: they elicited very strong reactions in their readers, and that means they made us care. And not just care, but care deeply.

Here's a true confession. I don't know if it's because of my internal editor, or just that I read SO MUCH, or being a writer myself, but for some reason, it has become incredibly hard to make me cry in a book. The only two fiction novels that have done it (that I can think of off the top of my head, and excluding writing my own, which can be very emotional) in the last ten years were The Deathly Hallows and Code Name Verity. Until last weekend. So, what does that mean to me? Regardless of whether I liked or didn't like the ending, Veronica Roth made me cry, and that means she did something right.

With my own book on the verge of being released (just over two months left!!), I have both excitement and trepidation for what lies ahead. I know that not everyone will understand my story the way I intended it to be understood, and not everyone will love my characters the way I love them. That's just the nature of our jobs as authors. We give our readers our best effort, we give them a piece of us, and they take and do with it what they will. Even though I know that, I also know it will still be hard to see or hear about negative reviews. Our books are such a part of us, that of course it stings if someone doesn't "get" them, or if they did but still didn't like it. (I wrote another post about that recently that you can read HERE.) But I also know that there will be those out there who will meet Alexa and Marcel, Rylan and Damian, and they will fall in love with all of them. Maybe some of you will even come to love them the way I do. And that is what sharing my book with the world is all about.

We all have books that reached out to us, past our minds, straight into our hearts and souls. The books that transported us out of our own lives to reside, at least for a time, somewhere else. Somewhere different. Somewhere unique and wonderful, with characters who felt completely real to us. We yearned with those characters, we ached with them. We triumphed with them. We fell in love right alongside them. And we warred with the need to finish and the desire to savor the experience, as we flipped page after page after page, our hearts racing.

That's what I hope for the most. I long to have someone, somewhere experience that through the pages of DEFY. But second to that, I hope that you feel something when you read it. Whether you love it or hate it, devour it or want to throw it at the wall, my job as a writer is to make you feel. Veronica Roth did that, J.K. Rowling did, Elizabeth Wein, and so many others--and all in different ways. I could compile a huge list here of authors who I admire and whose books have touched my life and inspired me, but this post is long enough.

In the end, that's what it all comes down to, isn't it? The desire to understand each other better, to feel connected, or validated, or not quite so alone, even if it's through a boy wizard, or a WWII POW, or a girl living in factions in an experimental future society. Or maybe even a young woman forced to disguise herself and use her skills at sword-fighting to carve out the best life she can, in the depths of a jungle kingdom immersed in a brutal war against magic.

So tell me, what are some of the books that have touched you the most--or made you feel the strongest reactions?

 

A little J.K. Rowling to start the week

As most of my older followers know, I LOVE Harry Potter. I think J.K. Rowling is a genius. One thing that a lot of people overlook, are the little pearls of wisdom she sprinkled throughout her books. Here's one to start off the week:

"It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- J.K. Rowling

Isn't that true? I know extremely talented people who just don't have the drive or dedication to make something of themselves; whereas I also I know people who maybe don't have as much natural talent who bust their butts and become incredible at what they're pursuing.

I know people who had amazing potential for good, but made choices that took them down paths of greed and selfishness and destroyed their potential. I also know people who were raised in enviroments where everything was against them, and they rose above it all and became amazing people who touch more lives for good than they could ever realize.

To put a little spin on the quote, it is our choices who MAKE us who we are.

What do you think?

Friday Five: the hair, goals, JK Rowling and more edition

1. Okay, some of you wanted to see a few examples of my changing hair styles, well... here you go! (I won't be offended if you don't, feel free to scroll down to the rest of my random thoughts.)

I only went back about two and a half years, because this is going to be "pictures of Sara's hair" overload. Just warning you. That's why I added some with my boys, they are waaay cuter than I am. And SHH is waaay hotter than me. So, yep. (SHH, for those who missed that post, is "Super Hot Hubby.")

Here we go (and I skipped quite a few stages, that were different, but not drastically) :


March 08: natural color (almost), side bangs, pretty long!


September 08 (22 or 23 weeks pregnant, hence the strange pose hehe): highlights, LOTS of bangs, cut off about 4-5 inches.

October 08: cut off even more, darkened the highlights (often when I change my hair, I take "new hair" pictures to send to friends/family because they're always afraid--ahem, I mean EXCITED -- to see what I've done...)

December 08 (month before I had my second son): totally darkened it, with some red highlights, minimized the side bangs, just a trim since I didn't want to change too many things right before the hormonal craziness of having a baby.

March 09 (two months after baby): went WAY dark, no red. Almost black. This picture doesn't do it justice, but I wanted to post it because I have an exciting #2 thought that pertains to this photo. So the montage isn't over but:

2. I am with some of my friends at Julie Berry's signing at TKE in this picture. The exciting news, is that her new book SECONDHAND CHARM and her "boy books" THE SPLURCH ACADEMY just released, and she's coming back to UT for some more signings! Come out and support her. She is the most wonderful, kind-hearted person and SO talented. I loved THE AMARANTH ENCHANTMENT, and can't wait for her new book. I'm also going to get THE SPLURCH ACADEMY books for my boys. Yay! The signing at The King's English in SLC is on October 20, so don't miss it!


Okay, back to pics...

A little bit better shot of how dark it was, plus it shows my natural curl. And also, isn't my baby so cute? (He's 2 months old. I can't believe he's going to be 2 in January! Where did that time go??)

Summer 09: (I got professional shots done by my amazing friend/aspiring author/incredible photographer Erin Summerill at our critique group). My husband said if we're going to pay for me to get my hair done, I should do something drastic. So, I did! I hadn't cut my hair this short since third grade (because I hated it back then). But I kept toying with the idea and finally just went for it! It was a fun change, but I decided I didn't love my curly hair short. When it was straight I liked it more, but I still decided to grow it out. I also hadn't been this blond in a long time. The shadowbox was fun (light on top, dark underneath) and I kept it in varying degrees of lightness on top for over a year.


September 09: I started growing it back out and darkened the blond a little bit.

Spring 2010: Another awesome picture by Erin Summerill. My hair is getting longer and darker again...

My newest "professional shot" taken by my insanely talented hubby in August. A little longer, a little darker...

Present 'do: cut straight bangs, all over dark again, still letting it grow out.

So there you go! I change my hair a lot, huh? But it's fun.

3. I want to be J.K. Rowling. Or just steal her brain. Or at least her writing skills. It would be my dream come true to meet her. I think she's a genius. Watching her on Oprah only made me want to meet her even more. I think we could be best friends. Really, I do. Okay, not really. That makes me sound like a stalker, and I can't even afford a ticket to Edinburgh, so no worries Jo. You're safe for now. But, I do think you're amazing and I can only hope to have 1/10 of the talent you have someday...

4. I am running my first 10k tomorrow morning. My training hit a few snags (those lame heart troubles, my running partner [my cute mama] fell during one of our runs and hurt her knee and couldn't run for a couple of weeks, etc.), but I'm determined to do it and finish the race, and so is she. I will definitely not be vying for the top spot, but I'm excited to accomplish this goal. Many times life is like that, isn't it? We set a goal (or dream) and start on the path to accomplish it. We may think we're going to cross that line first, but hit some bumps on the road. Or major cliffs. You just never know. But as long as you keep going and reach that goal, does it really matter if you were first? As long as we finish with dignity and a sense of accomplishment, that's what counts, right?

5. I love fall! Curling up with an awesome book (or a laptop to keep writing what I hope will become an awesome book), a mug of hot cocoa, and a fire crackling behind the glass cover on the fireplace as the gas feeds it instead of wood... ah, a perfect evening at home on a crisp fall night. Except, I wouldn't mind a real fireplace, but hey, they're messy and who can beat the ease of flipping a switch to get fire? We finally got some real fall weather this week, and I'm loving it. I actually got to wear a sweater today! Now I just hope the fall weather can last, and not nosedive right into winter.

What are your thoughts on this beautiful, fall Friday?