World Lit Wednesday: THE WHALE RIDER by Witi Ihimaera

ISBN: 9780790009315 [UK]

Continent: Australasia

Country: New Zealand

Title: The Whale Rider

Author: Witi Ihimaera

"Kahu looked at Koro Apirana, her eyes shining. 'Oh, Paka, can't you hear them? I've been listening to them for ages now. Oh, Paka, and the whales are still singing,' she said" (Page 150).

Eight-year-old Kahutia Te Rangi loves her great-grandfather, Koro Apirana, dearly. Koro Apirana, however, has no time for her. As chief of their Maori tribe, he is busy trying to recruit the next tribal leader from among the community's young boys. And besides, he hates the fact that his first great-grandchild was born a girl, and that her parents named her after the tribe's legendary hero, Paikea, the Whale Rider.

Weekend Writing Craft: What's wrong with adverbs?

"The road to hell is paved with adverbs." – Stephen King

"If you see an adverb, kill it." – Mark Twain

  
If you've taken a fiction writing class, you've heard about how despicable adverbs are. Words that end in ly? Ugh. You don't want them in your story. But what is it about these describing words that's so awful?

What adverbs do
Adverbs are words that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Often they end in ly, as with terribly, horrendously, shyly, nearly, or remarkably. Sometimes they don't, as with very, rather, or even.

Why they've got a bad rap
People dislike adverbs in fiction writing for a couple of reasons:

1. There's usually a better way to say it.
Mark Twain called adverbs "the tool of the lazy writer." That's because adverbs are a shortcut. They normally accompany an ordinary verb that the writer decides doesn't tell enough about the scene. For example:

World Lit Wednesday: FROM A CROOKED RIB by Nuruddin Farah

ISBN: 9780141187174 [UK]

Continent: Africa

Country: Somalia

Title: From a Crooked Rib

Author: Naruddin Farah

First published in: 1970

"God created Woman from a crooked rib; and any one who trieth to staighten it, breaketh it." (Somali traditional proverb, quoted from Part One)

For my third African novel I chose Naruddin Farah's From a Crooked Rib, the story of a teenage Somali girl, Ebla, who flees from her nomadic tribe in the country to find a new life in Mogadishu. Upset when her grandfather decides to marry her off to an older man, Ebla decides that running away is her only option.

Weekend Writing Craft: Show and tell

If you've taken any creative writing classes or read any fiction writing books, chances are you've come across the number one rule of writing (well, maybe it comes just after "writers write"): "show, don't tell."

But what exactly does "show, don't tell," mean, and more importantly, why does it matter?

What it means
Every novel alternates between two types of writing: scenes, which show you what is happening to the characters in real time, and narrative summary, which summarizes what's happened to the characters, or sums up general character traits. Scenes are cinematic, engaging the reader, putting him or her into the action of the story. Narrative summary gives necessary information to keep the story going. Scenes have dialogue and action where narrative summary is one step removed, telling us what happened without engaging us with the characters (Browne and King, 7).

Fame!

Just a quick post to let you know I was interviewed yesterday over at Alexander M Zoltai's blog, Notes from an Alien. I would recommend checking out all of the author interviews he's done over the past few weeks. I always find it fascinating reading about other people's writing journeys and techniques.

Science fiction fans, find out more about Alexander M Zoltai's novel, Notes from an Alien, here.

Happy writing, everyone!

World Lit Wednesday: PURPLE HIBISCUS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

ISBN: 9780007189885 [UK]

Continent: Africa

Country: Nigeria

Title: Purple Hibiscus

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

First published in: 2003

Awards: Commonwealth Writers' Prize—Best First Book 2005

"Nsukka started it all; Aunty Ifeoma's little garden next to the verandah of her flat in Nsukka began to lift the silence. Jaja's defiance seemed to me now like Aunty Ifeoma's experimental purple hibiscus: rare, fragrant with the undertones of freedom..." (Page 16).

Pancakes, X chromosomes, and the reading revolution

Lots of Days have been happening recently: World Book Day last Thursday, March 3; World Book Night (okay, it's a Night and not a Day, but it's the same basic principle) Saturday, March 5; Pancake Day and International Women's Day yesterday, March 8. That's a lot of celebrating to do!

Okay so, while I didn't actually make any pancakes or attend any rallies for women's causes (though I would totally be down for both of these activities if I were a little more organized), I did participate—albeit somewhat tangentially—in the first ever World Book Night!

World Book Night is an event here in the UK in which one million books are given away by volunteer "givers." Twenty-five titles are chosen beforehand, and 40,000 copies of each title are printed in a special World Book Day edition. Then 20,000 givers are each supplied with 48 copies of their chosen title to distribute as they choose, beginning on World Book Night.

This Monday when I arrived at the college library where I work, I found out that the college was giving away copies of several of the World Book Night titles, which is how I got my hands on this wonderful book:

Notice some of the other amazing titles on the list: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Love in the Time of Cholera, Life of Pi, Beloved, Half of a Yellow Sun, Northern Lights... all books I would love to read or reread.

I find it so reassuring and inspiring that even in these Difficult Times people can still find the time and the resources to support literacy and the arts in such a huge way.

Audience participation! If you could be a giver on the next World Book Night, and you could choose any one title to give away, what would it be and why?

(UK and Ireland residents, register here!)

Recommended for young (and older) readers

Today the UK and Ireland celebrate World Book Day! (Okay, so apparently the rest of the world celebrates World Book Day on April 23, which technically makes today UK and Ireland Book Day, which doesn't have as nice of a ring to it, but still). It's a day to celebrate books, and to try to get kids excited about reading.

In honor of World Book Day, I've made a list of my six favorite children's and young adult series, books that made me excited to read and books that broadened my imagination when I was a kid. I would recommend these authors to anyone, child or adult. Here they are, in no particular order.