Literary Corner: A Tale of Two Cities

Having one of the most famous opening paragraphs in Literature notwithstanding, this long tale stands on three solid pillars… along with a whole host of decorative posts.

Pillar one is the historical detail, accurate to the very last aristocratic cruel glare above a laced, starched collar. The strong, ever-moving plot follows and stitches the bits of London and Paris history together into a finely woven story, one that echoes long-forgotten epic ballads, though in true literary form. The last pillar is the drama itself… not overly done, not poured so fast that the plot drowns as a spindly seedling in a lake; Dickens caught up fistfuls of the rampant emotion present during that tumultuous time, hearkening forth the bloodcurdling bawls of long-maligned peasants whipped into a frenzy by the madness of mob rule. This review will not reveal all but merely attempt to incite curiosity in readers to entrench themselves in this classic book.

It is difficult to remember throughout this story that this is indeed a ‘Dickens’ book… an author known for his rather hopeful stories, whose plots tend to lean heavily on the milk of human kindness. Though Dickens excelled in painting humans as they are with his pen, this tome is by far his most macabre in flavor… yet, I knew as I read it that this was due more to the actual events than to the writer, for historical accounts show that despite one or two literary straying from known paths into storytelling, this piece may have almost been a chronological account of the revolution in question.

The tale begins as most great stories do, with an innocent person suffering an enormous wrong by greedy overlords bent by decades of excess, wont to do as they please. This ‘beginning’ is gradually revealed as the plot goes along similar to now movies use flashbacks to give background filler. I digress: a young peasant girl falls victim to a particular, tyrannical aristocrat; as she is laboring to give birth to the nobleman’s bastard a local doctor, Alexandre Manette, is called in to assist. Tragically, he is unable to save her or the child, and for some reason instead of merely warning the doctor into silence about the scene he’s just witnessed, the aristocrat ushered the good man into a waiting, blanketed carriage and hustles him off to the worst place in all France: the Bastille prison.

Though the good man wishes to decry his chains, Manette’s name is written down in the prison ledger and he is closeted away in one of the foul, stinking cells of stone. There he remains for 18 years, not knowing how his servants or young daughter are or how to contact them. Eventually one of his former servants Defarge finds him and is allowed to care for the man. Defarge and his oddly cold wife Therese run a wine shop and secretly nurture a blossoming secret revolutionary group referred to as ‘Jacques’, a name taken from an actual French Revolution group, the Jacquerie. Therese has her own dark reasons for zealously provoking rebellion, which are revealed later in the book.

Time goes on; Dr. Manette’s daughter Lucie (a lovely, sweet-tempered girl) is cared for by the capable, motherly housekeeper, laboring under the delusion that her father is dead. Eventually Tellson’s Bank in London gets word somehow of Manette’s real condition and in order to verify the information (the reason involved money) sends an astute and dedicated employee named Jarvis Lorry to Lucie, explains that her father is alive and enlists her help; normally a young girl that that time would have been a traveling liability, but Lorry is clever enough to know that 18 years in the Bastille may have thrown a damper on Manette’s reasoning ability, and that seeing his daughter may slowly snap him out of it. This thinking proves correct. They find Defarge, whom leads them to a cell where a half-catatonic, wasted Manette sits, making shoes in a compulsory manner, having severely withdrawn into his own mind. Eventually, the sight of his daughter’s golden tresses stirs a small memory in his mind, and he grows to recognize her and know himself again. Lucie and Lorry liberate him and carry him back to England to convalesce in the arms of family and devoted servants. Thus ends the first third of the book, and one of the few happier moments. Two more parts lead these characters into a web of mystery, love and finally, resolve.

Not only for readers but writers, this tome is well worth the time and energy required to read and enjoy the historical drama, well-developed characters and genteel intrigue overshadowed by the hideous wraith of revolution. Few today write as well or as honestly as Dickens.

Simplicity Sells…

While every author dreams of writing the next Count of Monte Cristo… wrought with intellectual plot loops, swirls of unforgettable characters, intrigue and complicated redemption, the fact is that most good books are about simple, everyday stories about ordinary people whom the writer is personally familiar with.

Pride and Prejudice, for instance, is really just a good love story, well-dressed with tasteful insights and a dash of dexterous wordplay, topped off with a charming cloche hat. Our best-selling book remains the simplest story…. a romantic tale with Cinderella-type hints, set in a real place, regaling the lives of characters we personally know and cherish.

Our new series began with a mere glance into our family tree and the ‘America’ series was born, chronicling the journey of 1900’s period immigrant to the United States.

If bitten with the writing bug, chose to begin your piece with what you know well, even if it seems the most mundane of things. Some of the finest books ever written started off with something as ordinary as the chime of a clock, the arrival of a guest or the author musing about a historical occurrence they were particularly interested in. The options are endless and perhaps your simple, everyday beginning will blossom into that intelligent, gripping novel that lies dormant within you.

Cheers,

Meredith Greene

*fanfare* MobiPocket…

What a fantastic tool for new authors.

PDF is fast becoming last year’s news; our customer have hinted heavily that they want a better formatted system for their PDAs as PDF is just too wide and cumbersome for viewing. Since most folks are switching from average cell phone to PDA, we decided to go hunting for an eBook service/software that could format our books into PDA compatible files.

We found MobiPocket… a French-based company that had the foresight to be new/unpublished author friendly not only in categorization but in their software. Its free to download, fairly straight-forward to use and they provide their customers with free reader software that is highly customizable.

As a result, they have thousands of quality, single-format eBooks on their site (mobipocket.com); I was so impressed with the quality of the cover graphics presented that I re-did a few of our just to put them up alongside and not look too shabby. They do take a percentage of the book’s sale revenue, so figure that into your price when you are configuring your upload.

How it works: if you use Word it will be easier. You download their publisher free software and upload your Word file. It converts your book into a Word html file which you can edit a little in Word as well (to space out your chapters. It tends to lump them together a little.) The wizard then walks you through uploading your cover, tweaking the settings, compression and encryption. You also get the option of putting in a synopsis or free chapter, along with any reviews you want to include. Then you set up a publishers account with user name (still  free), upload and activate your books individually. Your books show up on their site within seconds.

Here are some of our book listings: (We’ll have all seven up by Sunday.)

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=125156
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=125165
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=125162
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=125182

All in all we give this site two thumbs up, considering the small percentage taken, the broad category ability, the fairly equal advertising and that it connects to your PayPal account, for free. Good luck writers. May you reach all available PDAs worldwide.

Meredith Greene

The Art of Completion…

Completing our latest book is proving somewhat difficult.  It seems I have been stuck on Chapter Seven for several weeks. It is not so much a block of ideas merely a lack of time. When I do have time, there are so many things which call out for attention, waving the flag of ‘AHEM’ before my eyes; the book is pressed further back in the home of my mind, gradually moving from the foyer, through the hall, past the kitchen and down into the basement.

I find writing highly enjoyable; indeed, I must write. Poetry is my favored outlet but fiction is not so far behind. Eventually, the things to do are finished: the kitchen is replete with ‘clean’, dinner is slow-cooking, the laundry is churning, the children are napping and I gravitate over to the laptop like a bee drawn to a garden of fragrant, lush roses. It feels almost sublime to sit down a moment and exercise my brain, now that my back and legs are tired and so in an industrious fashion. I don’t know why, but television holds little appeal in comparison; besides the nightly newscast and the occasional documentary we dabble only seldom in the realm of public/paid media broadcasting. The news is better on the web anyway, without those annoying commercials. So, in lieu of veging out in front of the tube there is a flurry of writing in our living room at least a few nights each week.

As the book chapters are completed I know there will be a mental push, so to speak, to get it finished. The activity may even become mechanical instead of enjoyable, especially during the editing stage, but it cannot be helped. Work is as much part of the art as the pleasant, artistic, creative side. Once the piece is finished, however, I know the result will be well worth the effort. The folks that buy our books seem to agree.

Thus, one can assume that completing a task, whether a book, painting, day, laborious project or IT report… it involves scientific method in parts, labor, tears, tension headaches and joy, most of all the realization that just finishing the task, itself, has an art to it.

(Not to mention it feels unduly good.)

Another chapter in history…

We may never go back to plain, old romance fiction. (Tongue in cheek)

Historical fiction with several dashes of romance seems far more rewarding to write, read back and edit; rewarding, in the sense that the stories of real folks are told in times that actually occurred, with struggles, joys and outcomes which many of that time period experienced. Certainly it is less mental ‘work’ not having to come up with so many details just out of thin air, but there is far more research involved than pure fiction.

The writing goes at a much slower pace, but not so incrementally that the flow is lost. The Editor comes home and listens to the latest chapter as he takes off his boots and stretches his back. Suggestions are made and plot flaws corrected, mostly before dinner. The next chapter is laid out over post-dinner coffee with much living room pacing and idea tossing. This goes on until we’ve reasonably hashed it out; if the series of events does not make sense, we cut, paste and poke at it until it does. At ten we watch the nightly news, maybe catch half of Charlie Rose before we succumb to the elongated hand of sleep. With work and young children, we have early mornings in this house.

It is a good existence and I am grateful for it. Our writing activity is very satisfying to my mind. More and more of our near acquaintances find other things to do at night besides six hours of television. Some of the fans of the book overseas have emailed with phrases like ‘it must be nice to write books for a living’ and similar things. This idea correlated with the average perception of Americans abroad, from what I’ve been able to gather. Apparently, we are all grossly overweight and merely plunk down in front of a Satellite dish-enhanced TV all day or push papers around for a living.

That amuses me, I must say. While obesity is a problem for some, and perhaps not everyone works hard, there are many who do. My housework I do myself, no maids or laundry service. I have several business duties, accounting and secretarial; spare time is taken up with teaching the children home skills and taking them to the park or on walks, not to mention writing, errands and tendency to run laps around my living room while the kids are napping. These activities have kept me far removed from the obese category and really I am quite happy with being busy. I pity greatly anyone merely sits all day; I’ve never seen a soap opera (no time nor inclination). If I do have a moment, I sit down with a good book and read a little of it before duty calls again.

My man works with his hands for a living and comes home tired and dusty. I am never bored, he is never lazy; though our existence is a humble one, we enjoy it fully. I adore writing with him, for the brain encased in his noble brow is not a dull one, nor does it rest easily. The children provide work and play both as well as moment of brevity that only they can produce. In such an environment, it is no wonder that the books we write reflect pleasant, interesting lives with but few tragedies. The plots are empty of love triangles, empty lives replete with drug use, or murderous sociopaths but instead indwelled with soul mates, families, children and sprinkled with just enough turmoil, trouble and toil to avoid the ‘mary-sue’ category by a wide margin.  (Write what you know)

If such is how the history of my life and that of my family is, then I am well satisfied; perhaps it would make a good book idea to some researching fiction writer, many years from now.

Meredith GreeneBelator Books