Jacqueline Carey

[flighty_dreams]

So picking a top favorite is always hard, but if I had to pick a single favorite author out of the many, many books I've read, I would have to choose Jacqueline Carey. My two most favorite fictional characters (that includes books, movies, tv, etc., folks) were both her wondrous creations. Her Kushiel's Legacy series is a world rich and well-detailed, and inhabited by deep, complicated characters.

If I could acquire even a quarter of her writing talent, I would feel blessed. I'm getting a rare treat this year in that she's releasing two books in 2009 instead of just one. Can't wait!

So why am I posting about her now? I just wanted to share this short essay she wrote several years ago; she had a link to it in her latest blog post. It talks about mythology and angels and the genesis of ideas, etc. I recommend it; it's worth a read! (As are her books of course.)

Hope someone finds this interesting:

"All our archetypes derive from myth. The challenge is to make of them something new."

There's also a beautiful review of her debut novel on that same site, though rife with spoilers. It also contains a couple samples of her writing, if anyone is curious. Here is such a one, a description of the leader of Cereus House:

As everyone knows, beauty is at its most poignant when the cold hand of Death holds poised to wither it imminently. Upon such fragile transience was the fame of Cereus House founded. One could see, still, in the Dowayne, the ghostly echo of the beauty that had blossomed in her heyday, as a pressed flower retains its form, brittle and frail, its essence fled. In the general course of things, when beauty passes, the flower bows its head upon the stem and fails. Sometimes, though, when the petals droop, a framework of tempered steel is revealed within.

Such a one was Miriam Bousceuvre, the Dowayne of Cereus House. Thin and fine as parchment was her skin, and her hair white with age, but her eyes, ah! She sat fixed in her chair, upright as a girl of seventeen, and her eyes were like gimlets, grey as steel.

Work on Spliced continues, albeit slowly... I feel inadequate.

Comments

[dark-amphibian.livejournal.com]

Actually, my kneejerk reaction is that your writing is better. In the quote, first paragraph is too...*searching for words*...overdone, convoluted. The last 2 sentences are at least clear. I like them.

Second paragraph, both parchment and gimlet metaphors are soooooo trite. And that's not a word I recall thinking when reading Spliced (which makes me feel much more unworthy to write than this).

Otoh, I LOVED that essay though. Must read the book now. Because her writing isn't awful...I just think yours is better.

[flighty-dreams.livejournal.com]

*blushes* What a lovely thing to say, thanks! I think I really admire people that can carry off the flowery language well in their writing (because I don't think I'll ever be able to pull it off). I don't find the quote I posted overdone, but I'm coming from a different place, as I've read 3 books from that character's POV, and feel intimately familiar with the narrator and how she speaks. It's a very different time and place, and the way she speaks fits her culture and her upbringing. To me it's all immersive.

Anyways, parchment is overdone yes, but I don't feel like I've heard gimlets that much. Maybe it's just been too long since I read a lot of epic fantasy though. Gimlets aren't exactly common in anything with a contemporary setting, like urban fantasy. ;)

I personally find metaphors/similes so hard to weave into my writing. I really struggle with them.

Another book that had amazing metaphors was Memoirs of a Geisha. This post has some examples from it:
http://theparody.wordpress.com/2006/04/04/memoirs-of-a-geisha/

Yeah I found the essay fascinating. She really does weave that angelic mythology into the series a lot.

Thanks for commenting. :) I enjoyed getting a second opinion. And I really needed the compliment yesterday; it helped get me going on more of Spliced 4.5. I wrote 2k words of it yesterday but gahhhh... I might be tossing it, at least for now. We'll see. The boys are NOT cooperating, but I'm probably going to rant about them in a new LJ entry, so I'll save my comments for that. Thanks again!

[ocotillo-dawn.livejournal.com]

Funny thing, writing. Even with stories that I am positively in love with my characters, there are sections that just pull freaking teeth to write. And it makes me feels thick and stupid and slow and ...

you write wonderfully.

Sorry, so busy these days that I haven't looked at your links, but I will say that part of what I like about your writing is the lack of purple and its simplicity... so I suspect that I'd agree with dark_amphibian.

Just drawn by your 'inadequate' comment. Think a writer who doesn't occasionally feel inadequate is fooling themselves.

[flighty-dreams.livejournal.com]

Funny thing, writing. Even with stories that I am positively in love with my characters, there are sections that just pull freaking teeth to write. And it makes me feels thick and stupid and slow and ...

Yes, exactly this. I love my boys but this chapter is kicking my ass.

Thanks! XD I'm glad the simplicity of it is appealing. I don't think I'm poetic enough to be fancy, and in the end what's most important to me is the characters themselves - are their emotions conveyed properly, and are they acting and speaking true to themselves?

Glad I could entertain! ;) And you're right, anyone who doesn't have any moments of doubt when it comes to their art is either arrogant beyond belief or in serious denial.

[ocotillo-dawn.livejournal.com]

are they acting and speaking true to themselves?

To me, this is SOO important. I struggle with it, hope to do it well. It isn't a deal breaker when others mess it up but it sure hurts the story badly.

Thinking back, that is one of your strengths too, IMO. I believe your characters, what they do makes sense.

[flighty-dreams.livejournal.com]

I have my struggles with it too - like in the current chapter I'm fighting to write. They ARE acting true to themselves, but there's also timing to consider. At this particular moment, is this the way they should be acting?

And here's something that I think we both take much care to consider when writing our characters. I just caught up on your 2 latest chapters and you mentioned:

Hope it's not taking too long to figure out what's up with Nygell. Tempted to give hints/explanations, but want the story to stand or fall on its own, so am keeping my mouth shut until it is over.

Yes, writing the characters in a way that makes their behavior make sense to the reader at the current point in the story, but ALSO makes sense given what you as the writer secretly know of their background but haven't revealed yet... it's a tricky balance at times.

It is easier in the beginning when the reader is still getting to know your character, but the further you get into the story... it definitely becomes more difficult. At this point in Spliced I feel it much more, especially when I think of earlier events and how my characters' motivations aren't fully explained. There was an explanation given (otherwise readers would be well aware of a hole there) but it's not necessarily the full explanation. ;) I still have more info to reveal eventually.

Anyways, I think you've done well with explaining your characters' motivations so far. At this point we haven't gotten as much out of Nygell, so it's mostly Sylvan, but there is nothing wrong with that. It's early yet. ;) And I think his behavior so far has all made sense considering his upbringing.

And I enjoy your writing style very much as well; I like all the little details you use to paint the scenes, from the rooms' decor to the changing seasons affecting their moods. I look forward to more. :)