Secret notes!

I've been meaning to do a post about things I find in books for a while. As a library assistant in a college (UK equivalent of 11th and 12th grade, though my college has some degree students and adult learners too), I've found a few interesting things in books during my day-to-day shelving and sectioning (putting sections in order). You get the usual sticky notes with frantic scribbling: social stratification, dependence v autonomy, misogyny!, and then you get funny things used as bookmarks: a bank statement, a brochure for a sexual health clinic, a collectible card for a character called Mr Pricklepants (I looked that one up; it's from Toy Story).

A few months back, sticking out of a social science book, I found a note informing me of the following:

You will die in seven days! Sorry! :)

Needless to say, this information was incorrect, but it did provide a source of amusement during an otherwise mundane (and annoyingly dusty) task.

On Wednesday I began reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. The first thing I saw on opening the book—which has been sitting in my massive TBR stack since Christmas—was this:

Fans of John Green may recognize the acronym: Don't forget to be awesome (as they say in my hometown).

I opened it up, and:

A note from someone else who just happens to really like this author and (and his actually pretty cool online community—see http://nerdfighters.ning.com/). How awesome is that?

It's sort of made me think of doing something similar. I've often thought of leaving notes in places students will find them. Things along the lines of subvert the patriarchy, don't let media control you, you're beautiful the way you are, etc. I thought I could leave them on Post-Its on stall doors in the restrooms, or something similar. But why not leave notes like this in books by authors I love, or in books about topics that are important to me? After all, reading creates communities—communities of people who love Shakespeare, or John Green, or Judy Blume; people who love 20th century art or genetics or the work of Friedrich Nietzsche. So why don't we try to connect a little more over the things we love?

So my question for you today, Dear Readers: have you ever discovered a secret note? Have you ever left one to be found? How did it make you feel? Let me know in the comments!

WIP Wednesday

This week, what was going to be a minor subplot blossomed somewhat out of control into a major multi-chapter event. Meanwhile, I've still got a whole other mini-adventure that character group B has to undertake before the climax of the novel. All of this together means that Dyllan and Abigail is going to be considerably longer than my originally projected 100,000 words. Also, this draft is not going to be finished by my spring break (which started yesterday). I can only hope that I can cut out a lot of stuff in my first round of revisions—which, given the shifting focus of the book, I'm optimistic about. Yup.

This week: a continuation of last week's Daring Rescue, which turned out to be much more complex than I originally thought. 

Still to come: a complicated situation involving a group of changelings, a sojourn from Abernwyth to Earth, and (this being a child-friendly book) heroin addiction.

Random quote:  

“I—I was just going for a walk.” She licked her dry lips. “I was going for a walk and I saw the fire, so I came to see if you needed help putting it out,” she invented.

Ellena chuckled. “No, child. We must burn back the poisonweed before it reaches the circle. Enchanted fire is the only way to kill it.” As if to demonstrate, Ellena waved her tiny hand, directing the fire toward another clump of pale green tendrils dotted with white flowers.

Total word count:  84,003

 *Photo source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bandera_china.png

WIP Wednesday

I'm still on a first draft writing high with Dyllan and Abigail. Things keep surprising me, but in a good way. This week it's been all about a (somewhat) wicked enchantress, who has been impeding my MCs' progress. It's been a good chance for me to have my young protagonist, Abby, test her skills and bravery ahead of the book's final showdown. These scenes have been relatively easy to write, and they've been helping me discover way more about the magic in my magical world.

This week's word count: 4,101

Total word count: 82,839

Random quote:

...there was a stupendous crack, a gust of acrid smoke, and Lady Charmain strode through the twisted trees, dusting her palms. Away from the hamlet, the elfin smile plastered across her face was more like a leer, and the bones in her arms protruded even farther, casting shadows on her sour-milk skin. She walked like a marionette.

Abby leapt backward. Or at least, she tried to. While her mind commanded her body to move, it merely swayed a little, like a curtain in a breeze. Fathian swayed beside her, a high-pitched whine escaping his lips.

Hope everyone else's WIP is going swimmingly this week.

Happy writing!

WIP Wednesday

I've written a little over 3,000 words this week, and most of that was today. Wednesdays in general are good writing days for me, because I usually don't have to work at my day job (i.e. telling British teenagers to be quiet, kicking broken printers, and making displays for obscure holidays).

This week two of my main characters (and one supporting character) have gone on a mission to save a hero who can—maybe—help them defeat the villain. A witch colony, a weevilby*, an enchantress, and a brownie** are involved. Much danger abounds.

Total word count: 78,838.

Random quote: 

 '“There’s some sort of spell at Covendale, isn’t there? A well-being spell,” she said, pausing for a moment on the far bank of the stream with her hands on her knees. Fear billowed up within her like black smoke. Demons swirling through the darkness. Dyllan, bloodied and dead in the main road of New Alband. A mass of bodies—Floridyn, Frederick, Zenthorn, Fresia. She swayed for a moment, eyes shut.

“This side of the stream marks the western edge of the witches’ territory,” Fathian said. “All of their usual protections end here. It is a shock, leaving. I should have warned you.”'

WIP Wednesday: Slow and steady wins the race

So my work on my novel this week has been slow, but steady, not unlike some sort of determined tortoise. (Incidentally, tortoises feature heavily in the chapter I'm working on. They're yellow tortoises, which can be used to predict the future, if you can decipher the signals right—which is proving difficult for my not-really-trained-in-divination characters.) Anyway, I've been writing pretty much every day, but in very small increments. This is mainly due to the continual unpacking of boxes, coupled with my inability to do laundry by magic.

Total word count: 75,049

Random quote (this is new!): 'In one room, a disgruntled looking cat floated in circles, circumnavigating the rows of students. “Notice that the spell does not harm Princess Fluffrump,” a short, white-haired man lectured, “though some motion sickness may occur."' 

What's in your future?

 Hope all of your works-in-progress are going well this week. Happy writing!

*Photo credit: Richard Mayer, 2005. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Testudooos_008.jpg-.jpg

February Reads

First off, happy St David's Day! St David is the patron saint of Wales—a 6th century bishop who according to legend ate only bread and herbs and drank only water, in between performing miracles and going on pilgrimages. Today, proudly wear your leeks and daffodils, the national emblems of Wales.

St David in stained glass, Jesus Chapel, Oxford.

The Welsh flag. You wish your country's flag had a dragon on it.

 (I know I haven't been blogging much lately. Blame the fact that Big Chimp and I moved last week, and we're still working on unpacking and organizing all of our stuff. Fun fact: the sheer weight of our excessive amount of books bowed and nearly broke two of our shelves.)

So! February reads! I read six books in February:

• Death Note, volumes 5 and 6 by Ohba and Obata. Meh. The story's gone all "evil corporate bankers" on me, and it's getting kind of (really) boring. I've got one more volume that I bought on a 3 for 2 offer at Forbidden Planet in London, but if the plot doesn't improve I may give up on the series.
• Three Diana Wynne Jones novels (two were Valentine's Day presents from Big Chimp—thanks honey!): House of Many Ways (from the Howl series) The Magicians of Caprona, and Witch Week (both from the Chrestomanci series). The Magicians of Caprona (magical feuding Italian families) didn't really work for me, possibly because there were too many characters, or the plot was a bit too simplistic. Witch Week (boarding school in a world where witches are both common and illegal, and burned to death if they're found out) was better, but still not up to Howl's Moving Castle standard, in my opinion. I did quite enjoy House of Many Ways, and it was fun to see Howl and Sophie again. I've found that Diana Wynne Jones writes on a couple of different levels, and—not surprisingly—some of her books are a bit too young for me. I love her more complex books for slightly older readers. Enchanted Glass, which I'm reading right now, seems to be one of these, and I'm really loving it.
• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Though I found the first three or four chapters a little slow, after that I started to get right into this novel. It's a delightfully dark science fiction dystopia starring Todd Hewitt, a twelve-year-old boy who has grown up in Prentisstown, a religious settlement on New World. When Todd was a baby, the Spackle—New World's native intelligent lifeform—released the Noise germ, a biological weapon that killed off every human woman, and made all of the human men able to hear each other's thoughts. Or at least that's what Todd's been told. It's only when he discovers a hole in the Noise that he realizes he's been lied to, and has to escape Prentisstown before he's turned into something...evil. I loved this book, and I can't wait to read the next in the series.

So, what have you been reading lately? Let me know in the comments!

*Photo source for the above two images: wikipedia.org