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Post by Inigo Montoya on Dec 14, 2010 12:07:00 GMT -5
Something to remember is that this character turns 18 during the book. I don't know about y'all but the first time I sat across from a wheeler and tried to verbalize this stuff... anything... I was 36. Twice her age. And I couldn't answer. He asked questions and was met with my silence. I didn't have words. And there are still times, like I said out on the General board that I don't have words. There's this pressure that builds but words won't come. And this kid was looking a guy in the face who meant the world to her. Also, I'm comforted that two blah, mousy people find love too.  lol I agree about the sequel, dolly. And I've seriously wondered if feeling like I need to read it again isn't (at least) part of the reason I've been an emotional wreck the last couple of days. Also the last paragraph dolly quoted... I feel like this thing has tainted everything... it colors everything in my life. Like, the dating thing. Things that should've been simple simply aren't. I had always assumed that other people just were better at that stuff than me... and they may be, but suddenly I can't discount the fact that several of us have that in common too. |
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Post by devogirl on Dec 14, 2010 12:17:17 GMT -5
it kinda also left me wanting a sequel. about when elizabeth and stewart break up and she has to introduce wheeler #2 into her life... and to her friends and to her family... lol OMG, you're so right! Now that is the book I want to read. Or maybe write. |
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Post by BA on Dec 14, 2010 12:18:29 GMT -5
BA loves Inigo.
Dolly, that paragraph was also for me, the most difficult to see in print. I am doing my re-read. This time with a pencil.
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Post by dolly on Dec 14, 2010 13:49:52 GMT -5
Something to remember is that this character turns 18 during the book. I don't know about y'all but the first time I sat across from a wheeler and tried to verbalize this stuff... anything... I was 36. Twice her age. And I couldn't answer. He asked questions and was met with my silence. I didn't have words. And there are still times, like I said out on the General board that I don't have words. There's this pressure that builds but words won't come. And this kid was looking a guy in the face who meant the world to her. see, maybe i'm totally wrong... but it seems to me that it would be so much easier (not that it would be easy!) verbalizing this stuff for the first time at 18 than it was at 36. i didn't mean to be too rough on poor elizabeth in this department...lol and my comment now is not really about the book itself. just reminded me how while reading the book i felt kind of envious of her for getting to come to terms with all of this at such a young age. Also the last paragraph dolly quoted... I feel like this thing has tainted everything... it colors everything in my life. Like, the dating thing. Things that should've been simple simply aren't. I had always assumed that other people just were better at that stuff than me... and they may be, but suddenly I can't discount the fact that several of us have that in common too. you're not alone. i feel like i was developmentally stunted in this department too.  |
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Post by Cake on Dec 14, 2010 14:01:20 GMT -5
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Post by Dee Dee on Dec 14, 2010 16:08:37 GMT -5
Just to clarify: 1.00 AM EST Wednesday 15th will be 7.00 AM GMT+1 ... correct??? Which means it will be early night for the Americans, early morning for the Europeans and early evening for the Australians ... Note to self: "write "world clock" on Christmas wish list" ;D Yes, that would be 1 AM THURSDAY morning, hence Thursday 7 AM in the EU. D'oh! I even have a world clock and I can't figure it out. Is that ok? Yes, then it makes sense. I would say that the day starts by Midnight, so 1.00 AM "Wednesday" would in fact be Thursday very early morning . I think I need someone with advanced skills in mathematics to figure all of this out - I´m on 24-hour time and far away ;D. |
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Post by Emma on Dec 14, 2010 19:52:50 GMT -5
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Post by devogirl on Dec 14, 2010 23:32:00 GMT -5
So to recap the discussion from tonight's chat, among other things we discussed how unrealistic the description of SCI seemed to a lot of us. The narrator never tells us the level of his injury, or really describes his body in detail apart from the scars. The way his spasms were treated as a majorly debilitating condition (although I did know a guy who had really bad spasms so maybe that's not so unrealistic, but still, I think he was an exception). Also in the novel he's a strong para, but has a sort of live-in assistant who helps him with an elaborate bedtime routine every night--doing what? And she keeps calling the footplate pedals. Sheesh! On the other hand, the dev mentality was described so well, the author must be one herself. There was a lot of speculation on who she might be.
Someone also mentioned the cover, how cool it is that the chair is a modern sporty one, not the usual crap stock kind you see so often.
BA mentioned how this is a new genre-defining book, so even though it's groundbreaking in the topic, it presents a kind of idealized dev. I think she's exactly right, and it reminds me of coming-out novels from the 1960s or 70s. Wouldn't it be cool if this was a new genre? There are so many dev stories to tell, even though a lot of us related to Elizabeth, there are still lots of different ways to tell that story.
Anyway I'm looking forward to chatting more tomorrow but feel free to keep posting here too. The chat went by so fast, there were a lot of comments and questions that kind of got lost, so why not post it here?
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Post by ruthmadison on Jan 6, 2011 12:34:41 GMT -5
I think it really does need a sequel. The story does not finish there. I hope in the sequel to bring the two people together more, for them to find real common ground. But maybe a new guy is a better answer... hmmm, we shall see.
I was trying to strike a balance between realism and romance-genre staples. I started writing this book long before I had ever gone out with a disabled man, long before I ever met one, so it started out as pure imagination. I tried to add elements from my real experience to it later.
It was important to me to keep Elizabeth at a young age. Some people thought the book would have a better chance getting published if she was older because mixing sexual themes and teens is too controversial. However, I wanted tot ell the story of when she is still completely isolated and has only her parents to tell her what the world is.
Things become very different when you go out on your own and start exploring your own feelings for real! That's what the next book will be about, I hope.
I think I was afraid to put in too much erotic stuff. I didn't want it to fall into being only a romance novel, but I think because I was trying to make it be different things, it ended up disjointed.
It's interesting to see what things people didn't connect with, I can hopefully address those in the sequel. Sometimes when you're writing, it's so in your own head, that you lack the perspective to see how people might take certain things.
I hope the next book will turn out much more uplifting and affirming.
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Post by ruthmadison on Jan 6, 2011 14:40:28 GMT -5
Oh, and I should mention about the cover. That was a fight!
I self-published and I gave them very specific thoughts on the cover, and they kept sending me back terrible ones.
Finally I said, I want something like this and sent them a Word file with the image that they copied and pasted and stuck right on the book!
I kept telling them, I want it to be a sexy wheelchair on the front and they're going "What is a sexy wheelchair?"
Grmph. Any disabled man I say that to knows exactly what I'm talking about!
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Post by devogirl on Jan 7, 2011 22:02:16 GMT -5
Ha, that's hilarious about the cover!
I really would like to see a sequel where she starts dating wheeler #2 and has to tell her parents and all her friends.
I've been thinking about what you said, that you took the MS to 200 publishers before self-publishing because they all said no way. Were you marketing it as a romance? I can see why the dev theme would be a no-go for standard genre romances, or even for crossover romance-type fiction. But for a more realistic, coming of age type novel, I'd think an unusual topic like this would be interesting for a publisher. I wouldn't give up on getting a dev themed novel published in the future.
Honestly, the disconnect between the romance genre elements and the realism did bother me a bit. I'm not a huge fan of romance, although there are some I have enjoyed. Generally romance is so formulaic, there's no room for the kind of soul-searching that Elizabeth does. That self-reflection was so real and so well done, it was kind of a let down that the relationship was kind of formulaic at the end. Personally, I'd like to see something more realistic, and I think you are a better writer than a lot of the people who write romances; you don't have to write like that.
Anyway, I know I've been rather critical but I'm really impressed with how professionally you've taken the criticism. And I think it's amazing how open and honest you were in writing the book. It really reflected a lot of what I thought and felt, especially when I was younger, and it was incredibly brave of you to put it all down and show it to the world. I really do think you have started a new genre, the devotee version of the coming-out story.
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Post by ruthmadison on Jan 7, 2011 22:47:32 GMT -5
Ha, that's hilarious about the cover! I really would like to see a sequel where she starts dating wheeler #2 and has to tell her parents and all her friends. I've been thinking about what you said, that you took the MS to 200 publishers before self-publishing because they all said no way. Were you marketing it as a romance? I can see why the dev theme would be a no-go for standard genre romances, or even for crossover romance-type fiction. But for a more realistic, coming of age type novel, I'd think an unusual topic like this would be interesting for a publisher. I wouldn't give up on getting a dev themed novel published in the future. Honestly, the disconnect between the romance genre elements and the realism did bother me a bit. I'm not a huge fan of romance, although there are some I have enjoyed. Generally romance is so formulaic, there's no room for the kind of soul-searching that Elizabeth does. That self-reflection was so real and so well done, it was kind of a let down that the relationship was kind of formulaic at the end. Personally, I'd like to see something more realistic, and I think you are a better writer than a lot of the people who write romances; you don't have to write like that. Anyway, I know I've been rather critical but I'm really impressed with how professionally you've taken the criticism. And I think it's amazing how open and honest you were in writing the book. It really reflected a lot of what I thought and felt, especially when I was younger, and it was incredibly brave of you to put it all down and show it to the world. I really do think you have started a new genre, the devotee version of the coming-out story. Thank you. I worked really hard to not give myself any hiding space in that book. I was determined to ferret out every single thought and feeling and experience and be completely honest about it. I don't know if I fully succeeded in it, but I think I got close and I'm happy with it. Being a writer is so important to me and I hope to always continue to grow and improve in my craft. It would be terrible to have the first thing I write be the best (witness Catch-22!) I know there are improvements to be made and I hope that each book I write will be better than the last. I actually didn't market it as romance at all. I went through school for writing and so I had it drummed into me that genre writing is bad writing and literary writing is the only good kind. I'm still not sure where I sit on that issue. This is the conundrum I ran into: If I submitted it as young adult or coming of age the publishers and agents thought it was far too shocking in content. If I submitted it to publishers known to take on erotica, fetish, etc. it was far too tame. I guess it really is it's own genre! The first of its kind and I do hope not the last. The thought behind it was really, what would happen if I, as self-hating and neurotic as I was back then, got this romance-hero type guy? I'm excited to see where the characters go next. I think there are a lot more issues to explore from the stand-point of a woman in her 20s and not a teenager anymore dealing with it. It will also be great to get ideas and inspiration from all the wonderful people here. I do hope that Stewart and Elizabeth end up together, I have such a deep love and affection for them both.  But Elizabeth definitely has some more exploring to do... |
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lol
But Elizabeth definitely has some more exploring to do...