ALA 2012

So I was fortunate enough to secure funding to attend ALA for a day this past week, since it was local to me this year!  For any non-library types out there, ALA is the American Library Association's annual conference and is a huge event that draws librarians from around the world.  There are panels, discussion groups, committee meetings, and an exhibits hall that draws publishers and vendors catering to every library need and market.  I've been once before, and quite enjoyed it each time; in some ways, it's not different from any other convention to me since I gravitate toward the exhibits on books.  The main differences are that the panels are all on library topics (instead of pop culture--which in my case, still means books half the time) and nobody's walking around in costume.

A short breakdown of my day:

-Went to four panels:

• One was about creating a digital archive or collection, which I studied quite a lot/wrote papers on in graduate school but haven't gotten to do in a hands-on fashion, since that would fall more into Special Collections' purview at my library (where I work in Collection Development).  It was interesting even to hear about the collections the panelists were working on, let alone gain knowledge that could be applied to future projects of my own.
• One was about digital literacy, and everything sort of went awry.  The panelist had some sort of last-minute emergency, there wasn't time to cancel the event, and then members of the relevant committee tried valiantly to ad lib their way through something meaningful.  I did learn about a few useful tools that I want to investigate, but given there were about 6 sessions I would have been interested in for this time slot, I'm a bit disappointed by my choice.
• One was about ebooks and ebook readers, which is a perpetual hot topic in libraries.  Pretty interesting discussions here.
• The last one was a fun discussion of perceptions of librarians, mostly related to fashion.  One of the comments was that, as a profession, we probably worry more than any other about stereotypes and how people perceive us.  This is true.  CAT SWEATERS.

-Wandered the exhibits hall and got about 75% of it conquered before it closed.  I wish I'd had more time for this!  Talked with several vendors and content creators about forthcoming products, saw a few demonstrations, and, of course, perused the publishers' tables. 

-I only took four free books!  This is a huge accomplishment for me.  I managed to thin my print collection considerably, but it's creeping back up again, and the amount of books on my "unread" shelf is a bit daunting already (and that's only a fraction of my "want to read" list).  Interesting covers and passionate reps tempted me, OK?

-Also, there was a really cute "Reading is Mind-Bending!" poster with Aang, Katara, and Momo from Avatar: The Last Airbender.  (Katara probably shouldn't waterbend books off shelves, though.)

So yup, had fun and learned a lot.  Next year!

Voice emulation

I'm a huge admirer of Robert Charles Wilson's work, but it's taken me until now to read his latest novel, Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America.  I remember an interview several years ago where he expressed his desire to mimic a nineteenth-century dime novel (against his editor's pleas), and I've been intrigued ever since.  I've got to say, thus far his ability to mimic the voice of those books and the spirit of adventure inherent in mid-nineteenth-century literature is impressive.  And he does this while maintaining a very unique sensibility in his descriptions of the future and particularly the way he approaches religion.  His stories have always had weight: his invented histories shape the worlds and characters and are fleshed out without bogging down the story with unnecessary detail.  A lot of his stories, including this one, deal with religion and science, a relationship that has always interested me.  Even when he doesn't share the beliefs of the people in his worlds--indeed, his POVs are often outside looking in on those who practice the majority faith--he seems to understand the sociology of religion and why it is so attractive.  Even if those people are later shown to be deluded for one reason or another, Wilson treats them with a sympathy without pity or condescension that I greatly appreciate.

I digress.  Anyway, those key features of Wilson's writing are still evident in this work, which perhaps makes it all the more impressive that he is able to mimic a voice and style that is not his own.  Even with the dystopian future setting, this book would fit comfortably alongside many of the adventure novels of 150 years ago, noted only perhaps a bit odd in its subject matter, but not its writing.

It's tough to write in somebody else's voice without sounding forced.  I've read novels that try to mimic one author or another--often Austen, sometimes one of the Brontes, sometimes Shelley or Verne--and often they sound forced, like the author got too frustrated and played Mad Libs with an existing story, substituting their plot elements and character names into something already written.  I've tried before to mimic styles, and failed.  Once I tried to use an Austenian voice (though not one of her plots, at least), which worked for several chapters until my own voice started to creep in.  And though Vonnegut is one of my biggest influences, I couldn't mimic him well, either; in that case, my wordiness didn't mesh well with his succinct witticisms.

So I've got to hand it to Wilson early in the book.  He's met a tough challenge so far, and I'm sure he'll carry it off through the rest of the book.  I'm excited to find out!

Subtext and vagueness and the author's responsibility...i.e. I saw Prometheus

Being a huge fan of the Alien franchise, I went and saw Prometheus this past weekend.  After, a friend linked me to a very interesting analysis of the film's aboutness*.  Problem is, as awesome as the theory put forth in this analysis is, it simply isn't the movie I saw.  It requires too many inferences and assumptions and guesses that simply aren't supported by the narrative of the film, and some only weakly by interviews and the like surrounding it.  (The idea of the black goo being able to respond to varying states of mind, for example, is a cool idea, but there's not enough evidence to support it or lead the viewer to that realization.)  Of course, it got me thinking about subtext and keeping things purposefully vague and letting the audience read into something and authorial intent and the final word.

I think most people agree that they don't want authors to hold their hand and tell them what everything is supposed to mean.  (Or movie writers, or TV writers, etc.--let's just assume for this post that they're all lumped together as "authors" for the purposes of this post.)  People like feeling smart, so even if a lesson or theme is obvious, they want to feel like they figured it out themselves.  There are passionate debates that last for years in certain fandoms about what X plot twist meant, or Y's motivations, and so on.  Overall, they might not mind being guided by clues--even clues that are like flashing neon signs that say "get it? get it?" sometimes--but they don't flat-out like being told what a story is Supposed to Mean.

On the other hand, though, it's no good to make things so vague that the author's intent, the themes, or whatever else, can't be deduced by the information presented in the text, film, etc.  If a point can only be realized by baseless or unsupported speculation, then there's no way the author can present only that interpretation as being valid.  Don't get me wrong; I love when authors present extra-canonical material.  But it should be a supplement, not fundamental to an understanding of the original work.  It should be Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, not "Oh yeah, Dumbledore is gay."  There's a difference between forcing readers/viewers to look between the lines and expecting them to be psychic.

Authors can present information in a subtle fashion.  But they must present it.  It's the author's duty to make the meaning clear, not the readers' to intuit it from nothing.


(Although, seriously, films like Prometheus are dark.  I mean, visually dark.  I couldn't make out what was on those murals in the few seconds the camera focused on them each time.  So...something to consider, filmmakers, if the murals are important to understanding the story.)

*I can't escape cataloging terms, apparently.


Just some thoughts.  What are yours?



P.S. I did like Prometheus overall, though.  It had the things I wanted, i.e. Space Jockeys and Xenomorph-y stuff.

My own work has never nauseated me before, but not for the reason you think.

A new sensation is overtaking me as I approach the final stretch of this first draft:  nausea.

Because it's so important that I convey the climax correctly, as well as two particular characters' thoughts and motivations, or else the thematic underpinning of the book will just come apart and not make sense.

Because there's a complicated bit of story structure I have to explain clearly, or the entire reason behind the crew's mission won't make sense.

Even with a detailed outline of how I want things to play out, the task seems so daunting all of a sudden and I feel so nervous about it, in a way I haven't previously experienced.

Because I'm not totally certain my decision for a character's background, which affects his reaction to everything in the climax, is good enough, and whether it is depends totally on whether I can pull this off.

The good news is that it's compelling me to write a LOT this week, because the thought of leaving the task undone (or even it taking a few more weeks to wrap up the novel) squeezes at my heart and makes me anxious.  This, despite the fact that my finger is still messed up and it hurts to type either by using that finger anyway or by torquing my wrists enough to type without it, typos and all.  Right now there's a terror that I'm not going to be able to pull this off, despite my planning, and so I am compelled to get it done, to figure out if it's as bad as I fear it will be, to get to the point where I can think about how to fix it if it is.  Oi, what a monumental task.

I want to write and I want to vomit and I want to succeed and I want always to care this much.

I'm either going to fly or fail here, guys.  Ai yai yai yai yai...

The minor perils of being a writer, #1

I cut my right index finger pretty badly while opening a can of cat food and it has made typing tremendously difficult.  I made a typo on every word of that last sentence...and this one.  It will take so long to fill my writing quota tonight.

But still, I will persevere!  This is a minor peril of being a writer.