May 2013
32 posts
“Read trade magazines for trades you don’t actually practice, or repair manuals,...”
– M.T. Anderson, in answer to a question at his recent reading at Powell’s. (via ryansara)
YA!flash: So about the so-called lack of boy stuff... →
yaflash:
So I have a lot of feelings every single time I hear that people are “angry” or “annoyed” or whatever that they can’t find ONE SINGLE YA BOOK IN THE ENTIRE YA SECTION FOR BOYS TO READ and YOUNG MEN ARE FAILING BECAUSE GIRLS ARE TAKING OVER LITERATURE and HOW CAN BOYS POSSIBLY BE EXPECTED TO WANT…
My opinion is that boys are moving to other entertainment (games) where they are...
Boolist Review of The Rose Throne
“This intricately plotted fantasy is perfect for readers interested in stories of political intrigue. Told in third person, the perspective switches between the two princesses, and while the pacing can be slow and the world building lacks detail, the appeal of forbidden romance, powerful magic, and family secrets keeps the story engaging. Readers who stick with this one will be rewarded with...
Looky here! Tammy Pierce lists The Rose Throne as one of her “favorite reads.” This is a pretty short and impressive list to be on. And as always, getting the nod from an author I admire enormously is such a huge thing for me: http://tammypierce.livejournal.com/83979.html
“I don’t read reviews about myself, even in film and in television, so I wouldn’t...”
– Lucy Liu, who is apparently also an incredible artist in addition to be an actor, to Hunger (via malindalo)
This is such great advice. I wish I followed it more fully.
What is YA?
1. YA usually has a YA protagonist (13-19), but not always. 2. YA is usually shorter than adult fiction (60-80k, though fantasy can be longer). 3. YA is usually more quickly paced, with more dialog, less exposition, and fewer subplots. 4. YA tends to be in first person or very close third, and it tends to have a single viewpoint character, sometimes two. 5. YA has plot. Adult fiction sometimes...
LM Sparks writes:
“This is a deeply imaginative story, of two distinctly different young women, their upbringing, their duty to their countries, and their true loves. Each has her own unique power. The two young women, thrust together by the decisions of their fathers, eventually become friends and confidants. The story touches on various levels of love; love of country and duty, love of...
Review of The Rose Throne
“I did enjoy the writing and world building, but it left me wanting more.”
http://www.theflashlightreader.com/2013/05/review-rose-throne-mette-ivie-harrison.html
Mwahahah! I am flattered. Readers who want more are the best kinds of readers to have!
Davis County Literacy Night
is tonight at 6:30 at Davis High School! I will be there with Tyler Whitesides, J. Scott Savage, Kim Williams-Justesen, Kristyn Crow, Kristen Chandler, and many others. This is a great chance to get a signed copy of The Rose Throne if you are looking for a chance to get one and to come meet me. I am speaking on How to Find Time for Your Dream.
Writing Wednesday: TRUST YOUR CHARACTERS
I recently went to a talk by Victoria Curran of Harlequin on writing for her line. One of the things she talked about was the frequent problem of writers trying to follow formulas and ending up short-changing the story, the emotional impact, and the characters themselves. I was really impressed to hear her say a lot of things about romance formula that I have said myself. TRUST YOUR CHARACTERS,...
Free ebook stories now available for The Rose...
E for Ekhono, about Kellin, a deleted scene from The Rose Throne:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/315878
Kedor’s Match, a sequel about Kellin’s brother Kedor:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/315881
Or on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Ekhono-The-Rose-Throne-ebook/dp/B00CRMXJT8/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1368540472&sr=8-12&keywords=mette+ivie+harrison
...
me-myshelf-and-i asked: Hello! I wanted to inform you that I really enjoyed The Rose Throne. I posted a review here on Tumblr and also on Goodreads. I'm looking forward to the sequel and thanks for crafting a good story with strong female protagonists! There can never be too many of those :)
“I pretty much loved this book. I think Ailsbet and Marlissa are good, strong, and smart characters; they are not helpless females in a world dominated by men, which is truly admirable and particularly refreshing in the world of young adult novels where supposedly headstrong females are all talk and no action. Even better, they don’t turn into whimpering lovesick fools when they are in the...
Monday Book Recs: Doll Bones by Holly Black
Doll Bones is a delicious fantasy adventure about three children on the verge of their teen years. It’s about not knowing who you are and being afraid to be who you are. It’s about having friends who aren’t cool and dreams that are even less cool. It’s about wanting to stay a child and yet hating the lack of power that comes with childhood. And it’s also about the...
On Modesty and Language
Here is the thing: clothing is communication. It’s a very human way of speaking our minds, even without writing actual words on a shirt or using any images. Clothing speaks.
With clothing, you say which tribe you belong to. Or you can say you don’t belong to any tribe (though this is pretty rare). You can say you belong to multiple tribes at once. You can share a joke that only a few...
“There’s something for everyone in The Rose Throne. Magic, and romance, and realistic princesses who’re both selfish and self-less! There’s death and a fair amount of violence, too, and the pseudo-historical time period was neat. I very much enjoyed this book, and I’m for sure going to read the sequel when it comes out.”
More here:...
“I liked that The Rose Throne’s unique magical system. There were moment that I felt like I was holding my breath in anticipation, while reading a passage about how one of the princesses were using her magic. The most spellbinding moments for me in the book was when (Slight Spoiler) Ailsbet discovered she a the power of taweyr, and then later, when Issa used her magic to destroy the...
“And Issa. She’s adorable! She almost comes across as a delicate flower, but she’s trying hard to prove her worth. I imagine even greater things are in store for her future.” More here: http://bluerosesheart.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-rose-throne-by-mette-ivie-harrison.html
“Overall, I found The Rose Throne a very interesting and different read. If I had to do a mash up of books to describe TRT, I would say Rae Carson’s The Girl of Fire and Thrones meets Philippa Gregory’s The Constant Princess. I would definitely suggest other’s try this book.”
More here: http://ljduett.blogspot.com/2013/05/book-review-rose-throne-by-mette-ivie.html
“The world building was fantastic. Very vivid and well written. It has a historical feel to the dialog, which is something I don’t read very often. It wasn’t something I was expecting. I loved the magical elements. It was very original and I thought it was a fascinating concept.”
More: http://lilybloombooks.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/review-the-rose-throne-by-mette-ivie-harrison/
http://metteharrison.livejournal.com/411170.html
At a recent workshop experience, I asked all of the participants to introduce themselves. Then I noticed how many of the women in particular were self-effacing, embarrassed, or just plain prevaricating about their skills and years of experience as writers. I admit, these are unpublished writers, but it seemed that they thought of themselves as rank beginners. They were not rank beginners by and...
The Rose Throne: Names
I knew from the beginning that Issa and Ailsbet, the two princesses, would have variations on the names “Mary” and “Elizabeth” because of the way they are anchored in my mind to the historical Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I of England. Other characters in the novel also have names that are references to figures in Tudor England, though it may be tricky to figure them...
“The Rose Throne felt like historical fiction, even though it wasn’t. Harrison built the world so well that I could picture it like I picture real places. I was drawn into the novel and felt for both girls having to live a life that wasn’t quite theirs and wanting to do something they actually wanted to instead of what was expected of them.”
More here:
...
Writing Wednesday: How to Begin
I am doing a workshop again this weekend and did one just three weeks ago. I find myself saying a lot of the same things about first pages in these sessions, so I’m going to repeat them here for those of you who don’t have a chance to come to my workshops. What a First Chapter Should Do: 1. Make the Reader Feel Something. You want to evoke an emotion. It can be a negative emotion. It...
Why I Read Young Adult Literature
When I was a child, I read voraciously. My mother had to give us a limit on the number of books we could check out each week. This meant that I often ran through all of my picture books in one or two days, and ended up reading “up” to the books my siblings got. (I was the ninth of eleven children and we were too poor to buy books very often, but lucky in that my parents valued reading.)
I...
“At a workshop not too many years ago a newer writer began to condemn a best...”
– Tobias Buckell on “The fate of today’s book bloggers”
The C.C. Finlay quote: “A novel doesn’t excite readers because you took all the bad stuff out of it, it excites them because of all the good stuff that’s in it, regardless of the bad.”
(via malindalo)
Influences on The Rose Throne #3: Elinor in Sense...
Marianne is the flashier sister, the romantic, the one with the dramatic love story of Sense and Sensibility. Elinor is the boring one, the one who keeps her feelings to herself, who never does anything wrong. Willoughby was the dashing, tall, dark, handsome hero. He was the one who understood poetry. Edward Ferrars in some ways feels like a pale imitation of a romance hero. He would never lie...
Writing Wednesday: It Will Get Better
About ten years ago, I went to a marriage class taught by a professor from a local university. One of the studies he talked about tracked a large set of couples who were considering divorce. It tried to get as much information as possible about the couples, and then five years later, the same couples were re-interviewed. Apparently, the study could not find any significant factors that predicted...
Interview with me at The Enchanted Inkpot
about sromance and The Rose Throne:
http://enchantedinkpot.blogspot.com/
Review of The Rose Throne from Tome Tender
Can they fulfill their deepest desires? Can they find true love? What of the ancient prophecy? Can they both survive? The Rose Throne is fast-paced and richly detailed, painting the stark differences between the two kingdoms in concise detail. The characters were heroic, brave and willing to give and risk all. From page one, the suspense and plot twists kept building to a rousing crescendo that...
April 2013
41 posts
“The world is so big, so complicated, so replete with marvels and surprises that...”
– Michael Chabon, reminding me why I love him (and why I write YA)
“I hate to sound overly simplistic, but I am beginning to wonder if we undermine...”
– - Anthony Bradley (http://www.worldmag.com/2011/04/evangelicalism_s_narcissism_epidemic)
Some interesting observations. I see this as part of the “modern evangelical church=Jesus+capitalism” problem…
(via sarazarr)
Love this! Am trying to make my way back to this kind of Christianity.
Just For Fun: Outtakes from The Rose Throne
At one point, my editor asked me to try writing a series of epigraphs for the beginning of each chapter. Here are a few of the better ones. None of them ended up in the book, by the way. It just didn’t end up seeming right. But you try things in the writing process and they don’t always work.
Rejected epigraphs Nov 2011:
A woman who loves too well is like a woman who forgets herself...
Writing Wednesday: Internal Sensors
So for my race this weekend, I ended up forgetting my watch. It ended up being a happy accident. Instead of fretting over the time passing while I had problems on my bike, I thought about other things. I simply let myself feel how the pace I was going felt. I listened to my own body, my own sensors. I did it again today while doing a hard interval set at the track. I just went as hard as I...
My One Boston race
This wasn’t the best race ever. I ended up riding on a flat for way too long, and then stopping to change it, so my bike time sucked. But the swim and the run were still fun and a chance to practice my racing strategy. I started out too fast in the swim, went hypoxic, and had to breast stroke for a while. It was a good reminder to myself that I don’t race that way. I tend to start slow and...
Lessons in Revision #3: The Rose Throne dialog
“You’ve been hiding from me,” said Issa.
Her father let out a breath at that and turned to stare at her. “You know me very well.”
“Well enough to know when you don’t want me to read your face,” said Issa, with the lilting rhythm and harsh consonants that seemed appropriate to a northern life where the weather in winter could be quite harsh, even with the assistance of the neweyr.
“Ah,” said...
New review of The Rose Throne:
“The Rose Throne is fast-paced and richly detailed, painting the stark differences between the two kingdoms in concise detail. The characters were heroic, brave and willing to give and risk all. From page one, the suspense and plot twists kept building to a rousing crescendo that left me wanting to read more about these brave young women! A wonderful coming of age read!”...
“Issa and Kellin are easily one of my top five favorite fictional couples ever, and that is a hard list to get on because it involves kicking someone off. But they did it. I absolutely, completely adore them together. They had chemistry from the very beginning, and for a while I worried it wouldn’t go anywhere, especially as there were distractions. There’s a sort of burning...
This book was really different for me; it is a fantasy with heavy magical and political undertones.
The story is about an imaginary island world that was ‘broken’ apart and it’s now divided in two. The major reason for the division is the type of ‘magic’ that people have and their importance in the eyes of the current ruler: women are supposed to have newyer and men should have taweyr. The...
Friday Feminism (Late): What Women Want
Last week I read this post:
http://middle-agedmormonman.blogspot.com/2013/04/husbands-only-your-wife-might-be-lying.html
I understand that the man here is trying to be nice, and he’s trying to remind men not to take the easy way out just because they are given an excuse. On the other hand, this made me furious.
If you don’t want to read the whole post, the message is that men, your...
Influences on The Rose Throne #2: Scarlett O'Hara
I read Gone With the Wind for the first time at a very impressionable age, in ninth grade. I re-read it several times, and became obsessed with the movie version in the next year or so. I read books about the making of the movie, drew portraits of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. I memorized lines and generally imprinted on Scarlett and Rhett as the perfect romantic couple. When the first sequel to...
Writing Wednesday: Beyond the Everyman/Everywoman...
I am still thinking about why pity isn’t enough for readers to feel for a main character. I can think of a lot of TV shows, movies, and books in which the main character is basically an everyman/everywoman who is suddenly faced with a terrible situation, a life or death choice. Like, your child is kidnapped or the world is about to be destroyed or you are separated from the man you love and...
New cover for Ironmom
What do you all think? I’m still debating whether or not this ought to have me on the cover.
Review of The Rose Throne
from Dianne on goodreads: “The Rose Throne is fast-paced and richly detailed, painting the stark differences between the two kingdoms in concise detail. The characters were heroic, brave and willing to give and risk all. From page one, the suspense and plot twists kept building to a rousing crescendo that left me wanting to read more about these brave young women! A wonderful coming of age...
Another review of The Rose Throne
…which says, “I find Harrison’s world and concepts really intriguing, and her two princesses, Issa and Ailsbet, believably distinct… .I also had very concrete images of the characters and various settings, but without ever feeling like I’d just had to wade through a ton of detailed world-building and info-dumping, and that makes me very happy as a reader. It makes it...
Lessons in Revision #2: Issa in The Rose Throne
Version 1 (2009):
Queen Timre had been sick but a handful of days. She had kissed Princess Marlissa on the cheek only two days before, and patted her hand and told her to be a good girl, a good princess, and to learn her lessons, to improve her Rurin and to read her histories.
Issa went that evening to dinner, but found her mother was not there. King Jaap told her not to worry, that the queen...
