Karen Sandler

Tag: revolution

  • RTW – Best Book Read in October

    This week, YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday asks, What’s the best book you’ve read in October?

    My answer, Scott Westerfeld’s Goliath, was not only the best book I read in October (and I read some good ones), but the most highly anticipated. I was so glad to finally get my hands on it.

    I’d known about the Leviathan series for quite a while, but I wasn’t sure I’d like steampunk. I’m usually pretty meh about alternate history stories, so I was reluctant to try Westerfeld’s series on that basis (despite being a big fan of his Uglies books).

    Then I saw the artwork on his website and realized I really wanted to give it a try. I own a Kindle, and had planned to get the e-book. But then I was in an independent bookstore about an hour away from my house (we don’t have too many IBS’s nearby) and saw Leviathan. I realized the price for the paper book (trade paperback sized) was the same as for the e-book. Wanting to support the IBS, I bought Leviathan in paper.

    I am so glad I did. I’ve learned in the nearly two years I’ve owned my very basic Kindle that it does have limitations. Reading an illustrated book just doesn’t work as well on the electronic device. Much better to see those detailed drawings on paper, at least for me. So reading that paper version of Leviathan was sheer pleasure, and prompted me to buy the second book, Behemoth, as trade paperback as well.

    I was pretty bummed that Goliath wasn’t immediately available when I finished Behemoth several months ago. Then when Goliath came out in August, I was further frustrated because I wanted to purchase it in a brick-and-mortar IBS instead of from Amazon. But the store that’s an hour away from me was near where my son and daughter-in-law used to live. That made it somewhat convenient to shop there when I’d go visit them. But now they’ve moved out of state, so I have no reason to drive all the way to that store.

    Then I was at a nearby news and gift shop and found out they can and will order in books. I requested Goliath from them (and while I was at it scheduled a book signing at their store for Tankborn). Once it came in, I went and picked it up, then proceeded to devour Westerfeld’s book (in the figurative sense).

    Goliath is full of adventure, alternate history, extremely cool gadgets and exotic genetically engineered beasties, and wonderful characters. I’m sure it’s great fun for the young adults who are ostensibly its audience, but I think any adult lover of science fiction would enjoy the book. If you’re intrigued by history, particularly the events surrounding World War I, then Goliath (the entire Leviathan series, really) is absolutely for you. Scott Westerfeld, you are a god of the written word!

    So what did you read this month? Something wonderful?

  • RTW – What Makes a Book a Movie?

    This week, YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday offers up the blog prompt What is it that makes some books ideal for a film translation? I feel a little like that kid in class whose teacher finally asks a question she knows the answer to. The kid who suddenly wakes up and waves her arm, praying the teacher will call on her.

    Well, okay, I’m not that much of an expert on books being adapted into movies. But I have written a half-dozen or so screenplays and have written and produced a few short films. My book Tankborn and its sequels Awakening and Revolution were all adapted from a film script to books (so I’m hoping they can some day go the other way too). So I’ve actually thought a lot about what kind of books make good movies.

    IMHO, the one quality that makes a book most adaptable into film is a high concept premise. What’s high concept? I define it as a premise that can easily be described in one sentence. I’ve also heard it defined as a premise for which you can immediately imagine its movie poster. Hunger Games is an excellent example. In the future, teens are chosen in a lottery for a fight to the death with other teens. Jurassic Park–scientists recreate dinosaurs using DNA and the dinosaurs fight back. I think Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies books, in which “ugly” children are converted to “pretties” at age 16, but there’s something rotten at the core of the process, is pretty high concept and would make a fantastic film franchise.

    But not every movie is high concept, nor is every book that’s adapted to film high concept. Another crucial quality is that the book is very visual. There’s plenty of action on the page as opposed to lots of internal dialogue or long descriptive passages. There’s a whole lot of the novel Pride and Prejudice that’s left out of the movie because it just doesn’t translate into the visual medium of film.

    A third quality of a filmable book is that its story already follows a three act structure. I bet if you analyzed the movies you’ve seen, you’ll see the three act structure in most of them.

    What does that structure look like? The first act sets up the characters and their story dilemma, then there’s an inciting incident at the end of the first act that sets the hero/heroine on his/her way to their goal. The stakes continually rise in the second act, and there will be a turning point in the middle that changes everything, then a dark moment at the end of the second act. Then there’s the third act’s climax and denouement.

    Think about some of the books you’ve read, and I’ll bet many of them use this three act structure. Maybe the author made a conscious decision to write their book that way, or maybe the book ended up with three act structure because it’s a great way to write a story.

    So think about your own book, or if you’re not a writer, think about a fiction book you’ve recently read. Is it high concept (can you describe it in one sentence)? Is it extremely visual? Is it already written in a three act structure? Then you might have a very film adaptable story. I hope Hollywood comes knocking.

  • RTW – Looking Into My Writer’s Crystal Ball

    This week, YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday asks the question, What do you hope to be writing in one year? Three? Five?

    I’ve always hated goal-setting. Other than the goal that in three years, or five, I want to be rich and famous. Bestselling books, accolades aplenty, twin Cadillacs in the driveway (actually, in my case, it would probably be a couple of Teslas–gotta be green, ya know).

    But that’s just pie-in-the-sky fantasizing, not goal-setting. If you’d asked me five years ago where I wanted to be right now, what I thought I would be writing, I seriously doubt that I would have said, “Just finishing book 2 and about to start book 3 of a young adult science fiction trilogy.” Five years ago, I was still writing romances for Harlequin. Tankborn, its follow-on, Awakening, and the final book, Revolution, were not even a glimmer in my eye.

    But let me try to answer the question anyway, despite my goals-averse ways. One year out is a bit of a cheat, because there is something in the works already, something I can’t talk about yet. In a year, I will have finished a re-write on Secret Book #1 and should be working on writing Secret Book #2.

    In three years, I would like to be working on another YA series. Very likely in the speculative fiction arena (fantasy, paranormal, SF). It’s also possible I will be working on future Secret Books. Because all three books of the Tankborn trilogy will have been published in three years, my dream is that we will be working on the first of the Tankborn movies (hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?).

    In five years, I would be finishing up that Other YA Trilogy, possibly writing more Secret Books, and likely starting another YA series. Or maybe I’m working with an artist on Tankborn graphic novels. I think the Tankborn trilogy would lend itself very well to the graphic novel format. Maybe instead of Teslas, there are a pair of nice, new Priuses in the driveway. And schools are clamoring to hear me speak. My book signings are mob scenes. The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is begging me to give a keynote at their summer conference. 🙂

    Okay, so it’s not all completely realistic. I don’t have quite as much control over the rich and famous part as I’d like. But I can keep writing the books I like to write and make my own future to a certain extent.

    How about you? What is your crystal ball saying to you?

  • RTW – Best Book Read in September

    As it’s the last Wednesday of September, YA Highway asks what’s the best book we’ve read this month. It’s a bit of a blur as to what books I read in September. I might have finished a Lois McMaster Bujold SF book early on. Part of the month I’ve been doing a beta read on an urban fantasy for another writer in exchange for her beta reading my YA paranormal. I’ve also been busy working on the synopsis for Revolution, the third book in the Tankborn trilogy. Plus I was a little under the weather so I didn’t read as much this month.

    But I did make time to read James Rollins excellent thriller/adventure novel, Map of Bones, which is part of his Sigma Force series. While I’ve read a number of other books by James, this is the first Sigma Force book I picked up, and it wasn’t the first in the series. But he doesn’t leave new readers of the series confused about who is who and what Sigma Force is. Although he jumps right into the action, he introduces the characters in a nice balanced way so that new readers can get to know them, and returning readers aren’t overwhelmed by a data dump they don’t need.

    For those who love intriguing twists and turns, who like learning about arcane bits of history (in this case, of the Vatican and the Catholic Church) made fascinating by a breakneck plot, who like cool gadgets and clever characters, you’ll love this book. His ensemble of characters get into some dire fixes, are surely doomed, can’t possibly succeed, but a new twist and their quick wits pull them out of disaster.

    If you’re squeamish about violence, fair warning–this book has its fair share. Map of Bones doesn’t contain nearly as much on-the-page gore as say, Lee Child’s books. But it opens with a pretty hard-to-take scene for a wimp like me. I kept reading and I’m glad I did. It’s a great read.

    How about you? What did you read this month?

  • Tankborn Sequels!

    I’ve finally been given my editor’s blessing to announce my good news. There will be two Tankborn sequels: Awakening, which is scheduled for release in Spring 2013 and Revolution, scheduled for Spring 2014.

    I’d been working on Awakening these past several months, even before the offer was in hand, because I wanted so much for Kayla and Devak’s stories to continue. Now the pace for writing book 2 has picked up to a fever-pitch as I work toward a, shall we say, challenging deadline.

    What’s in store for our heroine and hero in Awakening? Aw, you don’t really want to know that, do you? No spoilery here. But I can say there will be more adventures, some familiar returning characters, some new characters, and more intriguing questions asked about humanity, race, and class.

    One fun thing about writing Awakening is that I already have a “story bible” to rely on to use as a basis for my world. Most of the heavy lifting of world-building was done in Tankborn. I get to reap those benefits, using Tankborn as my reference material. At the same time, I’m giving myself the freedom to invent some new things that (hindsight being what it is), I would have mentioned in the course of writing Tankborn if I’d thought of them. It’s very cool to add some layers to Tankborn‘s world. Also quite nifty to know there will be a third book which I can start to set up in Awakening.

    So keep an eye out for updates–cover reveals, blurb teasers, Scribd samples. Spring 2013 will be here before you know it.